[Reader-list] India state-run banks 'turn away Muslims': BBC

[Rakesh Iyer]

@ Kshamendra jee: What a good series of questions.

@ Rajkamal jee: The problem is not the arguments being heated. Some heat
will be there. What we lack on this forum mostly, as one of my friends once
stated, is the combination of light, warmth and heat. (With heat being the
last thing which should be there).

@ Rajen jee: Even Saif Ali Khan found it tough to get a house because he was
a Muslim. And he is a famous personality.

@ Malik jee: In the video-documentary named 'Final Solution' made by Rakesh
Sharma, the Muslims of Gujarat state that even before the pogrom of 2002,
Muslims who were educated would not get jobs because they were Muslims and
not Hindus.

Going further, I went to Bihar (Araria specifically) for working with an
organization which was organizing the social audits for NREGA with the help
of Bihar administration. One Muslim who had not got a job (surprisingly for
a panchayat which was having 90% Muslims) said to me:

'Humein kaam nahi milta baar baar maangne ke baad bhi. Ab kya Pakistan jaana
padega kaam maangne ke liye.' (Translation: Even after asking repeatedly, we
don't get work. Would we have to go to Pakistan now to get work/employment?)


Yes Muslims are doing badly in this nation, to be compared along with
Scheduled Castes. Only the Scheduled Tribes are worse off than them.  But
the Muslims have to keep on proving again and again that they are Indian. A
Rajen, A Bipin, a Rakesh and a Shuddha are never asked to prove that they
are loyal to this country, but a Javed, a Sheikh, a Sayeed, a Nizam is. The
entire Sangh Parivar treats them as anti-nationals or Pakistanis, so also
many other people who may not believe in the Sangh Parivar but fear the
Muslims.

The Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road in Mumbai is also termed 'mini Pakistan', as
are Muslim dominated areas of Ahmedabad or even Hyderabad. What more should
I say?

Having said that, we need to know who all in each and every case are denied
loans and why, and each case should be investigated. Each case may not be
that of discrimination against Muslims, and yet some cases would be like
that. It's imperative upon us to end this discrimination.

@ Pawan ji: I think there is something called Islamic banking also. Let
Muslims explain this point though. But from what I know, you can't accept or
pay interest as per Islamic banking.

If we want to end this cycle of suspicion, we need to break the
communication gap between the people. This has got to do with the fact that
Muslims may not have that much of a participation in the upper middle class
unlike say the Hindus. How it is to be broken, there are simple ways of
doing it, like a common education and healthcare system, better discussions
and debates among people and so on.

Rakesh