Ambreen Zaidi, an Army officer’s wife, has claimed that she faced a huge problem in renting a house in Delhi because she is a Muslim. And this has left the social media shocked and, well, divided.
Zaidi, who has ‘Proud Indian Faujan‘ written on her Twitter profile, tweeted on May 19 how her religion has become the ‘deciding factor’ whether she’ll get a house or not.
@brumbyOz We hv bn looking for a house in Delhi, owners refuse wn they come 2 know our religion, on our face! @SamKhan999 @farzana_versey
— Ambreen (@Ambreenzaidi) May 20, 2016
@brumbyOz +My husband is an army officer but that doesn’t matter! Our name/religion is the deciding factor! @SamKhan999 @farzana_versey
— Ambreen (@Ambreenzaidi) May 20, 2016
She was responding to a tweet on the insecurity of migrants who belong to the minority community.
After Zaidi took to Twitter to share her grievance, her tweets spread like wildfire and she even got an ‘overwhelming’ support.
@Ambreenzaidi The same happened to me 8 months back, i wrote to Dr. Mahesh Sharma (BJP) (Ministry of culture) as well, but nothing changed.
— Affaque Ahmed (@OnlyAffaq) May 22, 2016
@iamrana @timesofindia @Ambreenzaidi Sad. Media & politicians to blame for the divide.need 4 communities 2send positive signals 2 each other
— sandy (@sandy75454246) May 22, 2016
@Ambreenzaidi the same conditions i have faced in Jaipur too. Landlord refused after hearing my title as Mohammad 😒
— Shahbaz Alig (@shahbazminto) May 22, 2016
@iamrana @timesofindia @Ambreenzaidi – All Muslims are not terrorists and terrorists don’t have religion. Humanity must rule over religion.
— Tanwir (@tanwiralam15) May 22, 2016
All secular Indians should come together on social media to help each other overcome housing discrimination other problems & social evils
— Sameer Khan (@SamKhan999) May 20, 2016
Zaidi thanked people for the support and informed that she is currently in advanced talks for a house.
Overwhelmed by d immense support/home offers frm my twitter fam.Thank you all,Right now in advncd talks for a house with a Brig thru twitter
— Ambreen (@Ambreenzaidi) May 21, 2016
But she also received considerable abuse, trolling and accusations of ‘using the minority card’.
@Ambreenzaidi @samar11 @brumbyOz @SamKhan999 @farzana_versey Aren’t there terror camps in Delhi? You sure will get a tent.
— Category5Moron (@Category5Moron) May 20, 2016
@Ambreenzaidi @Andaaz13 @brumbyOz @farzana_versey I m aghast to see u writing this n pinning it conclusively on religion.. I hope u r wrong.
— Anoop (@newreck) May 20, 2016
Since I can’t use minority tag, every time I changed city, I thought Naxals were right.@Ambreenzaidi @brumbyOz @SamKhan999 @farzana_versey
— Vig Yani (@Vig_Yani) May 22, 2016
@Ambreenzaidi @manaman_chhina @sunetrac @AdityaRajKaul shame an educated Muslim Ms Zaidi u r playing minority card..midea attn?
— Bunty (@buntybabli95) May 22, 2016
However, she clarified that she doesn’t want to become a news item, reportedly rejecting advances made by other media houses.
@manaman_chhina @sunetrac @AdityaRajKaul Plz don’t, the idea was not to create a hype, I shared it on twitter coz I was too disheartened!
— Ambreen (@Ambreenzaidi) May 22, 2016
@sunetrac I have not spoken to anyone, not even TOI!! It’s a news item based on my tweets.
— Ambreen (@Ambreenzaidi) May 22, 2016
The shock is over the fact that in Zaidi’s case, her religion even overshadowed her association with the Indian Army, considered the ultimate nationalists. It further reinforces the findings by studies that Muslims indeed find it much more difficult than their counterparts to rent a house in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.
And it’s just very sad.
(Feature image source: Twitter | @Ambreenzaidi + @timesofindia)
