The Asian Tribune
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A drive to urge traders to stop employing Muslim salesmen in the markets, has been initiated in Indore.
Eklavya Gaur, the son of senior BJP leader Malini Gaur, has been leading this campaign and he has asked the traders to fire the Muslim salesmen. He is the vice-president of the BJP’s youth wing in Indore.
In Sheetla Mata Market and Nalia Bakhal, he recently asked the shop owners to not hire Muslim salesmen and that, if they had any Muslim working as salesman, they must remove him from the shop.
Though many traders felt that it was unfair as there were employees who had been working for them, for years, there was a sense of shock and anger over the ‘diktat’.
The reports that the politician was going to conduct his own ‘survey’ of the shops that had employees belonging to the Muslim community, led to unease in the markets.
If this was not enough, Gaur had even asked the traders at a meeting and directly told them to do away with the services of Muslim employees. He also reportedly said that his team would visit the market and check each shop, scan the Aadhar cards for identification of the staff and ascertain if any Muslim was working at these shops.
The right-wing members who are part of the campaign, claim that the action has ben initiated as part of the ‘purification’ process–to ‘cleanse’ the markets (sic).
The right-wing groups’ members claim that the presence of Muslim employees is risky as there could be possibility of ‘Love Jihad’, a term that is being repeatedly used to push a theory that Muslims entice women belonging to the other community.
Indore is the largest city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and it has a population of over 3 million.
A business hub and a fast growing urban centre, it is located in Western part of the State.
In recent years, Indore has often been in the centre of controversies because of right-wing vigilantes and communal rhetoric of the local leaders.
Comedian Munawwar Faruqi had been arrested in Indore, even though he hadn’t cracked a joke.
The case had got wide attention, as the police had claimed that he ‘had not cracked a joke, but could have cracked a joke’ to justify the action.
A bangle seller Taslim was arrested here and kept in jail for long. The case had brought focus on the city.
In fact, such incidents are reported from Indore, quite frequently. Meanwhile, there have been murmurs against Gaur’s action among traders too.
The traders feel that this would affect social bonds and also there could a downfall in the number of visitors to the market(s) due to such a controversy.
In the state capital, Bhopal, a memorandum was handed over to the Governor, demanding stern action over the discriminatory act in Indore.
Activist and Congress’ leader Shahrukh Pathan handed over a memorandum to the Governor, drawing his attention towards the divisive nature of the act.
editor@asiantribune.net
