| |
 Print
Indian Muslim Forced to Sell Home
4-07-2015
An Indian Muslim businessman has been forced to sell his home in a predominantly Hindu neighborhood of Bhavnagar, after falling victim to hate and boycott campaigns led by far-right Hindu groups.
“Zaveri tried many things to gain a toehold in the area. He suggested renting the bungalow out to Hindus but we rejected it. He also tried to give it to a firm for shooting a film, but we did not allow that,” a senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary who lives nearby and was among those leading the protests, told Indian Express on Wednesday, April 8.
“Meanwhile, we were in touch with real-estate developers. Having realised that neighbours would not relent, he agreed to sell it,” he added.
The RSS leader was referring to scrap dealer Aliasgar Zaveri, a Bohra Muslim, who bought the bungalow in Bhavnagar’s posh Sanatorium area on January 10, 2014.
Falling under pressure from Hindu neighbors, namely Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and RSS, Zaveri sold his bungalow to real-estate firm Bhumiti Associates on December 30, 2014.
Two months after Zaveri bought the bungalow from hotelier Kishoresinh Gohil for Rs 49 lakh, Hindu residents of the area started protesting.
The protesters claimed that the bungalow would allow more Muslims to move in the neighborhood, saying the food habits of Muslims may offend them.
Pressuring the Muslim businessman to move, Hindus started holding Ram Darbars, gatherings at which they would play their Hindu prayers on a music system, outside the bungalow every evening.
They invited VHP leader Pravin Togadia in April 2014, who reportedly asked residents to attack Zaveri’s office in Bhadevadi Street if he did not give up the bungalow within 48 hours.
Hindu pressures developed into serious attacks after the bungalow was razed a few months ago by Bhumiti Associates, a partnership firm of three Jains.
Selling it
Barred from moving in, Zaveri, who lives in a Muslim-dominated area, had to sell the bungalow to real-estate firm Bhumiti Associates, in a deal facilitated by RSS and VHP.
“He (Zaveri) wanted to get rid of it. We got the plot at market rates. I can assure you, it was not distress selling on his part,” said Chetan Kamdar, one of the partners of Bhumiti Associates.
While Bhumiti Associates said the deal did not involve any political or religious group, RSS and VHP leaders said they had facilitated it.
“Due to our agitation, the vidharmi (one from another faith, Zaveri) realized he would not be able to settle in and eventually gave in,” S D Jani, president of VHP’s Bhavnagar city unit, said.
About a fifth of India’s 1.27 billion people identify themselves as belonging to faiths other than Hinduism, including more than 175 million Muslims.
RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, an independence campaigner who had split from the Indian National Congress party over what he considered “undue pampering of the Muslims.”
Launched in 1925, the group has been banned thrice by the Indian government in 1948 and 1970s and 1990s.
Surrounded by ambiguity, the group faces accusations of fueling religious conflicts by their opposition to the Indian constitution’s article No 370 which grants Kashmir its special position.
Moreover, they have campaigned for years to support Ram temple in Ayodhya, on a spot where 16th-century Babri mosque once stood.
With one of their group at the top of the world’s second-most populous country, RSS leaders see Modi’s term as their golden age.
Prime Minister Modi, from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been active in RSS group since childhood.
Offering Modi unprecedented support, RSS volunteers went from door to door to convince people to support their colleague in what was seen as the biggest mobilization since 1977 when RSS workers did the same thing, encouraging people to vote against Indira Gandhi.
Footnotes:
|