Explained: Why does secular India have Muslim ghettos?

Most Indian TV news anchors ask Big Questions every night. They ask questions of the opposition, questions of liberals, questions of foreign governments, sometimes questions of the people, but rarely, if ever, for the people.

One such question has excited the newsmen and newswomen on TV since the eruption of violence around Ram Navami gave several state governments an excuse to bulldoze mainly Muslim homes, without so much as a pretence of a legal process. The question: “What’s a Muslim area?”

What’s a Muslim area, indeed? Or, more accurately, a Muslim ghetto? Why do Muslim ghettos exist in a supposedly secular country? What role does religion and demography play in access to housing? What’s the legal position?

Watch.

References

Sachar Committee Report 2006

Accumulation by Segregation: Muslim Localities in Delhi, Ghazala Jamil

Muslims in Indian Cities, Laurent Gayer and Christophe Jaffrelot

Muslims in Indian Cities: Degrees of Segregation and the Elusive Ghetto, Raphael Susewind

Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life Hindus and Muslims in India, Ashutosh Varshney
The Ordinary Man’s Guide to Radicalism, Neyaz Farooquee

No Muslims in My House

Separate and Unequal

The wretched of the city; Indian Muslims of the metropolis

How Muslim ghettos came about in Delhi

In India’s largest Muslim ghetto