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The Hindu-Muslim Business,
pernicious variety
WSN Bureau
A piece of
legislation meant to prevent distress sale of properties by Hindus
and Muslims to each other in order to get out of allegedly dangerous
areas (dangerous because they are dominated by people of the other
community) is a clear sign of the communal rift and its depth in
India's western state of Gujarat, now ruled by widely believed
culprit of 2002 riots, Narendra Modi.
The government
now wants to further add teeth to the controversial Disturbed Areas
Act.
In Gujarat, the
Act deals with real estate in areas declared as communally disturbed
to check ghettoisation. It aims at preventing distress selling: a
person whose house is in an area dominated by another community
selling the property off to a person of that community at a low rate
to avoid staying there.
So far, the law
has been enforced only in Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad, 26 out of 35
police stations have 274 declared disturbed areas.
It is not clear
why the law is not being enforced in other cities and towns that
face the same problems.
In many cases,
transactions in real estate continue in the sensitive areas, where
families of one community move out of the neighbourhood, mostly
uncomfortable with another community’s large presence. They even
sell their properties at throwaway rates. To circumvent the law,
many officially show that they have either “rented out” or given
power of attorney.
29
July 2009
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