Gujarat News: The residents of a housing complex in Gujarat’s Vadodara objected to a Muslim woman moving into a dwelling unit, citing possible “threat and nuisance” due to her presence.
The matter pertains to a 44-year-old Muslim woman employed with an arm of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development who was allotted a dwelling unit in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) low-income group housing complex at Harni under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana in 2017, according to an Indian Express report.
A total of 33 residents of the housing complex, comprising 462 units, sent a written complaint to the District Collector and other authorities objecting to the woman moving in with her son into an inclusive neighbourhood. She is the only Muslim allottee in the complex, the Indian Express reported, citing officials.
The 44-year-old woman said the protests against her first began in 2020 when the residents wrote to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), seeking her house allotment to be invalidated. However, back then, the Harni police station recorded statements of all the parties concerned and closed the complaint, as per the IE report. The recent protest against the same issue took place on June 10.
Speaking to the Indian Express, the woman said, “I have grown up in a mixed neighbourhood in Vadodara, and my family never believed in the concept of ghettos… I always wanted my son to grow up in an inclusive neighbourhood, but my dreams have been shattered as it has been almost six years and there is no solution to the opposition I am facing. My son is now in Class 12 and old enough to understand what is going on. The discrimination will affect him mentally….”
Terming it a “representation in public interest”, 33 signatories in the ‘complaint’ submitted to the District Collector, Mayor, VMC Commissioner, and Commissioner of Police in Vadodara demanded that the beneficiary be “shifted to another housing scheme”.
The memorandum by the Motnath Residency Cooperative Housing Services Society Limited said, “The VMC has allotted the house number K204 to one minority beneficiary in March 2019… We believe that Harni area is a Hindu-dominated peaceful area and there is no settlement of Muslims in the periphery of about four kilometres… It is like setting fire to the peaceful life of 461 families,” as quoted by the Indian Express. Residents of the colony cite “imminent law-and-order crisis” if Muslim families are allowed to move in.
Hatred Will Destroy Everyone: RJD
Reacting on the matter, RJD leader Manoj Jha said, “If I am correct, it’s a case of Vadodara (Gujarat). There were around 461 units (of the housing complex), out of which one unit was allotted to someone who I guess is a government (Muslim woman) employee. People started protesting there that they wouldn’t let her come. What has happened to this country? This hatred will destroy everyone. I urge PM and Home Minister to not let this happen and save everyone”.