No Muslim please: Vadodara residents in a letter to municipal body

Ahmedabad: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation as part of its ‘Slum Free Vadodara’ campaign demolished over 300 homes in Suleiman Chawl and is planning to relocate around 300 families—mostly Muslims— at Kapurai, a neighbourhood.

However, Kapurai residents wants Muslims out of their locality and therefore in protest against the move, write a letter to the Municipal Corporation.

The residents in the letter to the municipal body insisting not to relocate them since letting Muslims into their locality will “hamper the peace-loving nature here” and their “daily activity involves assaulting and abusing.”

Relocating the families would lead to “riots, assaults, criminal incidents, hampering the social order in the area”. report in The Indian Express said on Thursday.

“The VMC has demolished the illegal Suleiman Chawl that had become a headache for 40 years. It is a matter of joy for the eastern part of the city. However, we oppose the VMC’s decision to relocate the Muslim families of Suleiman Chawl to alternate accommodation under the BSUP housing scheme on Dabhoi Road (Kapurai), which has developed as a luxurious area in the last seven years. Allotting homes to Muslim families from Suleiman Chawl in this area will hamper the peace-loving nature here,” the letter said.

The ongoing protests have created panic among the Muslim families. Muslim families are not being allowed to move into their new houses, and the police is posted around Kapurai to prevent any untoward incident, The Indian Express reported.