Page 28 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

Incidents of bigotry But when they reached the passport of-

fice on June 20, 2018, and were called in
tarnish Lucknow’s after their number was announced they
were in for a big shock. The officer on
the seat, Vikas Mishra, subjected them to
Ganga–Jamni fabric what Tanvi calls ‘humiliating behaviour’.
She alleges that she was ‘shamed’ for
her alliance and questioned why she did
not change her Hindu name after her
The Lucknow passport row involving an interfaith couple and marriage to a Muslim man. On the other
hand, it is alleged that the officer asked
trolling of the MEA minister highlight that country’s secularism Anas to convert to Hinduism and take
has been put at stake for the sake of politics, writes kulsum mustafa the ‘pheras’ (as per Hindu tradition).
When the two protested and said that
religion was a personal matter and they
ucknow — a city renowned for the most populous city of India to Mo- had the right to choose their life partners
its secular Ganga-Jamni cul- hammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, as adults, the officer put aside their pa-
tural fabric today is drawing an interfaith couple married for the past pers and was rude to them.
headlines for bigotry, religious 12 years with a six-year-old daughter, was “His tone was loud, gestures intimi-
L intolerance and shaming of clearly an eye-opener for all who believe dating and disposition humiliating and
people with the interfaith alliance. in applying secular yardstick in judging aimed at shaming us,” said Tanvi.
Three incidents, coming on the heels any citizen. Both Anas and Tanvi hail Shaken but not cowed down by the
of one another seem to have shaken the from Lucknow and have studied here. behaviour of the officer, the gusty cou-
world and set a bad example through the The couple was in Lucknow to celebrate ple immediately took to the social media
growing incidents of narrow-minded- Eid with the family of Anas. They had to narrate their harrowing experience.
ness, intolerance and gestures reeking been planning a holiday for a while now, Tanvi’s tweets to Home Minister Sushma
of pure prejudice. The most recent is the and for this Tanvi had to get her passport Swaraj spread like wildfire on the social
gruesome experience of a Noida-based, made and Anas had to get his renewed. media. News of the couple being har-
Lucknow interfaith couple when they They had taken the requisite appoint- assed allegedly on account of their inter-
were ‘humiliated’ and shamed by a pass- ment online with the passport authori- faith marriage became breaking news
port officer just because they came from ties in Lucknow situated at Ratan Square. within seconds.
different religions and because the lady
did not wish to change her Hindu name
for the passport. Just a few days before,
another incident where a Lucknow-
based Hindu girl refused to take help
from a Muslim technician for an issue
in her Airtel Digital TV network shocked
people and left secular-minded people
shocked and stunned. Incidentally, the
solutions meted out in these two cases
were hugely different. There was anoth-
er incident in the city when a VHP func-
tionary refused to travel by an Ola cab,
which had a Muslim driver.
While in the case of the couple, the
passport authorities came into action,
immediately transferred the errant em-
ployee, the VHP man’s tweets drew huge
criticism and Ola reacted sharply. In the
case of Airtel, a private telecom firm, the
request of the girl was heeded and she
was connected to a Hindu technician for
the solution of her TV network.
But what happened in the capital of

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 28 www.Tehelka.com

28-29 Kulsum Mustafa.indd 2 03/07/18 3:48 PM