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What’s In A Name?
Caste atrocity, what else?
Name?
Yousaf Kha..! No Sir, Sorry Sir. Ram Chand, Sir, Ram Chand.
WSN Network
 Most
people who know the world of journalism in Punjab are well aware of
a Sikh journalist who belongs to "Suniara" (goldsmith) caste but
whose unmarried daughter now puts a "Sandhu" after her name. There
is no end to journalists who make fun of the nomenclature and taunt
the journalist for giving a wrong and false identity to his
daughter. Since the daughter too is a journalist, her surname
appears frequently in her newspaper.
But what even
the better informed media corps does not realise is the double
whammy that such families go through. The reason the Sikh journalist
was not using his caste was not that the casteless concept of his
religion inspired him to shun mention of his caste, but because he
was ashamed at hailing from a lesser caste. It is this same reason
that he gave a false caste name to his daughter.
Indian caste
atrocity works in subtle ways without explicit violence, but the
effect of the violence of this discrimination lasts even longer than
physical violence.
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Indian caste atrocity works in subtle ways without explicit
violence, but the effect of the violence of this discrimination
lasts even longer than physical violence.
Most Indian metros are full of instances where Muslims cannot
get a room or a house on rent and have to mask their identities
and use Hindu names. |
Most Indian
metros are full of instances where Muslims cannot get a room or a
house on rent and have to mask their identities and use Hindu names.
Even actors as senior as Saif Ali Khan recently told an NDTV
interviewer that he often finds himself a target because of his
religion. Indian Muslims are expected to frequently underline their
patriotic credentials, particularly after every terror incident. It
was a pity to see so many Muslim organizations coming out with
processions and marches in the immediate aftermath of the 26/11
terror days in Mumbai to condemn terrorism,
Pakistan
and bin Laden.
Now comes the
worst news from Surat where Mehboob Pathan of Valak village was
looking for a job but found his Muslim name coming in the way. So,
to get himself a job in
Surat’s
diamond units, he passed himself off as Jayenti Bhatti, and managed
to find work in two separate units in the Kapodara area.
Early this week,
his “cover” was blown, after he was brutally killed over a monetary
dispute. As the distraught family stepped forward to admit that
Jayenti Bhatti was indeed Mehboob Pathan, they worried that having
been cremated as a Hindu, the practising Muslim’s soul may not find
peace.
In the ledgers
of Surat’s diamond units, there are many leading a double life like
Pathan. His son Mushtaq is registered as Mukesh and daughter Samina
as Sharmila, and both are afraid of losing their jobs if the fact
was known.
 It
is well known that many Muslims assume Hindu names to find work in
the city’s lucrative diamond business. In a paradigm of fear created
by Narendra Modi's killer policies, statements and politics, Muslims
are being pushed to deny their identities.
“We would not
get a job if we are known to be Muslims. We have been doing this for
a long time, and we take great care not to reveal our real names or
addresses at work,” said one.
Pathan’s story
came to be known after his body was found in a farm at Antroli last
Monday, with the head smashed in. The police registered a case and
kept the unclaimed body in the Palsana Primary Health Centre
mortuary till Thursday. Then they arranged to give Pathan alias
Bhatti a Hindu funeral, with all the rites.
His family, who
had been looking for Pathan, had filed a missing complaint. Then,
seeing news stories in local newspapers about an unclaimed body,
Mehboob’s brother-in-law Iqbal Pathan decided to check. By that
time, Pathan had been cremated, but the brother-in-law identified
him from a photo of the body.
The family says
Pathan was a pious Muslim and the change of name was just so that he
and his children could find and keep a job. “We are too poor to do
anything, but how could the police dispose of his body the Hindu
way?” asks son Mushtaq. “A genital examination would have shown he
was a Muslim.” Sub-Inspector of Kadodara police V R Malhotra said
they had kept the body in mortuary hoping someone would turn up. “We
disposed it of according to Hindu rites not knowing he was a Muslim.
The family turned up too late and we are now helpless.”
Kapodara police
inspector S J Tirmizi, probing the murder, confirmed Pathan had
passed himself off as Bhatti for work. Manoj Rokad, who is the
manager of the Varachha unit in which Pathan’s daughter Samina works
as a diamond polisher, has reportedly confessed to the murder.
According to the police, Rokad had become a family friend of the
Pathans and knew their real identities. Two years ago, Pathan had
reportedly loaned Rokad Rs 60,000 for an emergency, which he never
returned. Pathan used to call Rokad repeatedly asking him to return
the same, and the latter reportedly asked Pathan to meet him on
December 20. They went to Antroli village, where Rokad allegedly
killed Pathan with the help of two other diamond polishers, who have
been identified as Chhanya Rathod and Sanjay. While Rokad has been
held, and has reportedly admitted to beating Pathan to death, Rathod
and Sanjay are on the run.
Indian civil
society and media have so far not even started to engage with this
debate where minorities are being made to deny their identity in
order to get jobs or rooms on rent or admission in schools.
30
December 2009
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