Islamism - 6

[Guest]

Another victim complex
No pizza deliveries in Muslim areas
New Delhi, Dec. 29:
Prestigious eateries like Wimpy’s, Nirula’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza refuse to do home deliveries to the largely Muslim-dominated population living in Okhla, New Delhi. The sizeable teaching community living on the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus allege that despite repeated requests to these outlets, located in the nearest community centre of New Friends Colony (NFC) market, to change their stand, they have refused to relent.

The ostensible reason why they stopped home deliveries was because a delivery boy got mugged three months ago. He was beaten up and the food and money he was carrying was snatched by some local goons. But residents point out this sort of thing can happen anywhere and is not reason enough to hold an entire community to ransom. Phalak Fatima, a Class 11 student of Delhi Public School, said, “My friends and I used to love coming home from school and ordering a pizza. We can no longer do that.
And, unfortunately, some of the eateries in NFC do not have a sitting arrangement. They just have outlets. That means we have to specially go there to place an order and then wait outside for almost 30 minutes in order to collect the food. This is extremely inconvenient, especially in the evenings.”

Fauzia Afteen, a schoolteacher teaching at the Jamia Middle School, pointed out, “This boycott has caused tremendous inconvenience to the residents here. Hamburgers and pizzas are the most popular consumption items with kids today. They don’t wish to eat anything else.” Rakhshanda Jalil, a media coordinator at the Jamia university, points out that most service providers, including grocery shops, dry cleaners and video parlours, refuse to do home deliveries here.

“We noticed the difference when we moved here two years ago from Gulmohar Park, where all one had to do was pick up the phone to place an order. In the beginning we tried to cajole and persuade these people, but nothing worked.” Ms Jalil adds, “Opening a bank account becomes a cumbersome operation if one states one is a resident of Jamia and it is next to impossible to get a loan. This is something which the Sachar Committee report has also highlighted.”

Dr Mushirul Hasan, vice-chancellor of JMI, points out, “This is one more attempt to target the minority community. Over the years, the civic agencies have systematically neglected this area. As a result, residents here have no facilities whatsoever — no parks, no roads and no markets. It is for this reason that they have to depend on New Friends Colony for everything. We do not possess even a Mother Dairy booth. By contrast, the neighbouring colony of Sukhdev Vihar and Sarvapriya Vihar have been provided with all the facilities,” Dr Hasan adds.