Friday, September 21, 2012

Accepting the Bitter Truth



The recent disclosure of the Emran Hashmi about his denial of housing in Mumbai, on his being a Muslim, is not at all surprising but is a bitter fact which should be accepted by one and all. It should neither be diluted nor discounted.  Earlier Shabana Azmi, by admitting the very same fact stirred up a controversy on the subject.  Unfortunately many are still struggling to put the facts under the carpet on false assumptions.

Saad was working for a public sector organization in Mumbai. He was desperately looking for a decent flat on rent.  During his interaction with various landlords and friends he was shown some written rules of certain societies about not hiring/selling properties to Muslims.  There were also unwritten understanding not to do the same.   Initially he got frustrated, and then he tried to pacify himself by accepting that it is the right of the society to make their own rules and he should not feel bad about it.  But eventually he got a flat hassle-free in some other non-Muslims occupied building. 

One of the leading doctors working for the state government had the taste of the bitter pill in his home town of Hyderabad.  During his search for temporary accommodation he approached the landlord, who agreed to hire his apartment based on discussion in Telugu (a local language mostly spoken by non-Muslims), whilst progressing towards preparing the contract he realized that the doctor is a Muslim.  He immediately informed him that he is a very secular person and likes Muslims but it is his mother who is very conservative and does not like non-Hindus and even certain categories of Hindus and excused.

Mohammed also had the bitter experience of being denied many job opportunities just because of being a Muslim. In one of the classical cases, He was selected by a famous Multinational Company, after topping in the group discussions and written examination. He was asked to report on a particular date for posting to their operations in Visakhapatnam. However he reported a week ahead of agreed date only to be astonished by their response. He was told that a particular person is already posted in his place. The selection process involved 2 weeks and a waiting of 2 months for posting. When he asked the reason, they tried to give some silly excuses and upon on pestering for the real reason. He was told clearly that he was dropped as he is a Muslim and a certain group does not like to deal with Muslims.

Many reports including the Sacchar report have revealed the backwardness, conditions and representation of the Muslims in India, which the vast majority of jaundiced eyed audience is not able to accept it as a fact.  However in reality the situation is more pathetic than the report.

The negative image of Muslims is not built overnight.  It is being systematically cultivated even prior to Babri Masjid demolition and prior to 9/11 and has resulted in the death and destruction of their properties. It is the responsibility of all Indian citizens to see to it that this image is rectified.

Fortunately this is not at all a widespread phenomenon, and confined to small pockets. The best way of resolving any problem is to identify and accept that a problem exists.  The mere denial of any problem will not help in finding a solution.  Another fact is that fear, greed, hatred, discrimination, favouritism and other vices are in human nature and cannot be eliminated but efforts should be made to reduce them. 

Mohammed Sadullah Khan is a free-lance writer and can be contacted at mosakhan40@gmail.com.

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