Shrinking space for liberalism

Shabana Azmi and I sat on the same bench in the Rajya Sabha for six years, side by side. Both of us were nominated members and we often talked on the problems facing the country. I found her in the mould of her father, Kaifi Azmi, who fought through his poetry the ugly forces of fanaticism and prejudice. His articulation of the plight of the poor was reflected also in Shabana's talks and thought.

To dub her a communalist or biased is unfair to Shabana and the Muslims like her because they point out the wrongs in their community at the risk of facing their ire. What she said about renting a house by Muslims in certain localities in Mumbai is as much truer in Delhi or elsewhere. I discovered this to my horror when I was the Resident Editor of The Statesman at Delhi.

A Muslim correspondent in The Statesman had returned from London after a stint of fellowship in training. After vainly searching for an accommodation for some weeks, he complained to me that as soon as the house owner came to know that he was a Muslim the common pretext was that they did not rent out the house to those who were non-vegetarian. In fact, they did not want to rent the house to a Muslim.