A fortnight ago when residents of a neighbourhood in Vadodara protested the administration’s move to allot a flat to a Muslim family, it sent shock waves across the country. It became national news in no time and drew sharp reactions, both for and against.

But if you were in Gujarat then you knew that such an incident is normal post 2002. In fact, as Ahmedabad-based social activist and convener of Minority Coordinate Committee Mujahid Nafees observed, it is surprising if this does not happen.

In Vadodara, the Muslim woman, who is now not reachable despite several attempts, had grown up in a mixed neighbourhood and wanted her teenage son also to grow up in a similar fashion. She applied for a flat under PM Awaas Yojna, and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation allotted her the flat numbred K 204 in Motnath Residency Cooperative Housing Society Limited.

According to society president Bhavan Joshi, the residents have been protesting since 2019, and this latest protest was staged following a move by the Muslim family to stay in the society.

Having earlier been on record to state that “the residents feared a Muslim staying in the society and that the culture is different”, Joshi ‘softened’ his stand after the matter got nation-wide media coverage.

“We have nothing against the Muslim family. Our protest is against the VMC. How could it allot a flat to a Muslim family? It has not even replied to us,” Joshi said. He had earlier said that “there were no Muslims within a radius of several kilometres” from the housing society.

Disturbed Areas Act of Gujarat is in place in the Harni area where the housing society is located. Under the Act, it is mandatory to have the Collector’s permission to buy or sell property to a person of other religion in the area where the Act is in force.

The Act is meant to rule out distress sale during communal situations and has been in force since the mid-1980s. However, cases also go to the court when a dispute arises.

An official of the VMC was on record in a section of the local media saying that they do not require the Collector’s permission to allot the flat. The process was simple – the Muslim woman was among thousands of those who applied, a draw for allotment was conducted and she was lucky like the rest who got allotment in the housing society.

Like this beneficiary family who wants to stay in a mixed neighbourhood, 72-year-old Niyaz Malik, who stays in Juhapura, Ahmedabad, misses her mixed neighbourhood of Ognej. “We used to attend functions at a Hindu neighbour’s family, and they would attend functions at our home,” Niyaz said.

She recalled that they had to sell off their 200 square feet built up bungalow at a throwaway price over 22 years ago. Ognej is 12-kilometres away from Ahmedabad.

“We are now used to staying in Juhapura. It is our “majboori”. Earlier, it was so nice. But, Bajrang Dal men had started brainwashing youth in 2001 and the very boys, who had grown up in front of us, attacked us during the riots,” she said.

Juhapura is probably the biggest Muslim ghetto of India and has a population of about six lakh.

Social activist Noorjehan Diwan narrated a story of a woman (who does not want to be named), who stays in Juhapura. Before 2002, she lived in a mixed neighbourhood of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.

Her fate brought her to Juhapura. This family too had to sell off their home at a very low price. “I have often seen her crying,” Diwan said.

“You may see posh societies and flats, but those staying on either side of small by lanes in the area long for civic amenities,” Diwan observed. There is no civic garden and a government college in a locality as big as Juhapura, she said, adding that accidents are common as the traffic is chaotic.

Diwan, who has been closely working with the riot-affected people since 2002, was shocked by what happened in Vadodara. “People have divided the country into borders. Hindus do not go to Muslims’ places and vice versa,” she said.

Yet, according to her, there are still many areas in Ahmedabad like Jivraj Park or Ekta Nagar where Hindus and Muslims stay together.

Rights and environment activist Rohit Prajapati has been staying since 1992 in Tandalja, a Muslim neighbourhood of Vadodara that has a few Hindu homes. His family did not have a problem even during the 2002 riots. The family often left their young son alone at home.

Prajapati felt that this divide has happened systematically. Political campaigns are different, but this has gone into the minds of people in a serious manner, and it will affect them, he pointed out.

He advocated for the need to fight this out at an ideological level. It has become a class and caste issue as well, he quipped.

According to him, the divide increased post-2002 and the Tandalja area saw many Hindu families move to other localities because there was difficulty in marrying their children.

“Whenever the issue of marriage would come up, the area would be a problem and people would find it difficult to find matches for their children,” Prajapati said.

It has been generally observed that Hindus would buy property in Hindu areas and the Muslims will buy property in Muslim neighbourhoods.

“Even if a Muslim can afford to buy a property in a posh Hindu area, he will not get a property there. He will not get the requisite permission,” Parth Vyas, who has spent over a decade in real estate broking, said.

“Earlier, when both the Hindus and the Muslims stayed together in the ‘pols’ of Ahmedabad were good, but things got complicated when politics came in”, Vyas felt.

Pointing out that the “discrimination was not good for the society”, political analyst Ghanshyam Shah said that “today even lower caste people or Other Backward Class people, especially the Dalits, do not get homes in upper caste localities and it is worse if you are a Muslim”.

He said that there was a stereotype against other communities/religions and an enlightened civil society was absent.

The Muslims, who constitute about nine percent of Gujarat’s population, have been marginalised, pointed out Gaurang Jani, Ahmedabad-based sociologist.

He grew up in a mixed neighbourhood of Rakhiyal in Ahmedabad and had Muslim friends. As he grew, in 1992 riots, he saw one top Muslim officer’s home being burnt.

“Until 2002, the problems were only when riots took place, but then there has been a paradigm shift. There has been a narrative that Muslims are bad, Muslim youth will elope with your daughters”, he said.

“Two months ago, I decided not to sit in a particular auto rickshaw because the seat was small. The driver, sporting a beard, asked me twice if I was not sitting in the auto because he was a Muslim,” Jani recalled. Eventually, Jani did take a ride in that auto.

It is ironic that in the state where there is so much ghettoisation, businesses run by Muslims have suffered, in the construction industry and even in other businesses partnerships between Hindus and Muslims continue.

“Unless we stay together, we will not understand each other’s cultural and religious aspects. It is a fear psychosis that is in play because there is nothing more important than life. Unfortunately, we will not fight this out,” Muhajid said.

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