No house for Mr Zaidi: How difficult it really is for Muslims to find a place

NEW DELHI: The recent ordeal of a Muslim woman on being turned out of a flat in Mumbai, allegedly because of her faith, didn’t evoke much of a reaction from an average Dilliwala. “It doesn’t happen in our city”—is how a Delhiite often reacts when stories of discrimination on the basis of faith emerge from some part of the country. And why not? After all, Hindus and Muslims have lived together peacefully for centuries in this city that has always been a living symbol of a syncretic culture that has largely remained unchanged since the time of the Mughals.But what if all is not hunky dory? What if faith-based discrimination also lurks behind the facade of tolerance and harmony?
Ask Delhi’s Muslims and they will tell you how difficult it really is to find a place to rent or buy in upscale localities. Without options, they are forced to confine themselves to ghettoes in Jamia Nagar, Okhla, Bhogal etc, and suffer all the problems that plague those areas, both civic and social—all of that just for not belonging to the majority faith.
TOI did a reality check and found that discrimination is more widespread in upscale areas such as Vasant Kunj, Defence Colony, Rohini etc, while it’s somewhat less stressful to find a house to stay in places such as Mukherjee Nagar, New Ashok Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh and Janakpuri.
IT professional Azam Raza Zaidi (25) works in Noida and lives in Okhla. He was turned away twice when he went house-hunting in an upscale area in Delhi and a residential society in Noida. “Landlords seemed very interested in renting out their houses and appeared welcoming when I contacted them on phone. But all their enthusiasm dissipated the moment they knew my full name. Eventually, I dropped the idea of moving out of Okhla. This area has many civic issues, but somehow I feel safer here,” he said.
Farah Zeba, an MBA in finance, had a similar story to tell. She was bluntly told once to look for a house in only “your Muslim areas” like Jamia Nagar when she went house hunting. “When my non-Muslim friend, who was along with me that day, reacted to the woman’s comment, she said it was only for my own safety,” she said. Farah eventually found a house, but the landlord insisted that the rent agreement would only be in her friend’s name, a Hindu.
Senior public prosecutor A T Ansari acknowledged the problem, but said the situation was far better here than in other cities. “Personally, I have not faced discrimination but have heard many cases. It surely happens, but people of Delhi are more broad-minded and easy going as compared to people in other cities,” he said.
There were others who shared Ansari’s views. And they said there was no concept of a ghetto until Partition and even later, when the memory of violence and bloodshed were still fresh. But as the political landscape of the country changed and with it the social discourse, mistrust between Hindus and Muslims started to grow.
“There was more communal harmony in the 1950s and 1960s. There was no concept of religious segregation. Now, everything is given a religious colour by politicians and people just play along,” said 86-year-old Purushottam Singh, who owns a house in north Delhi’s Kamla Nagar.
Dr Tasleem Ahmad Rehmani, president of Muslim Political Council of India said there has been a sharp increase in this kind of discrimination in the last 30-odd years. “Ironically, religious segregation is prevalent more in upscale areas. People in slums don’t discriminate as much,” she said.
Even inter-faith couples have a hard time. Saurav Singh (name changed) has a Muslim wife. “We are both teachers. We were suddenly asked to vacate our Mayur Vihar house when our landlord, a retired Army officer, figured out one day that my wife is a Muslim,” he said.
Real-estate agents and brokers admit that finding a house for a Muslim client is tough. Some even don’t entertain Muslim clients to avoid trouble.
Brokers in Rohini this correspondent spoke to for a house said it was only possible in Rithala; brokers in Jangpura proposed Bhogal, famous for Kashmiri and Afghan refugees; brokers in New Friends Colony suggested Sukhdeo Vihar and Jasola, both of which are closer to the Jamia Nagar ghetto. Another in Vasant Kunj said Munirka and Kishangadh are more appropriate areas, while another in east Delhi thought some ‘Muslim’ co-operative societies in Mayur Vihar and Patparganj would welcome Muslims.
Tanvir Aeijaz, an associate professor in Delhi University, said Muslims don’t want to live in ghettos. “Who wouldn’t want to live in good areas? But it is because of discrimination that community-specific residential complexes are growing. Ghettoization happens because of discrimination of this kind and not because Muslims want to live in Muslim-only areas.”