"Ascension of Muslims to high positions such as those of the president and vice president of India, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, or even chief of the air force, does not hold more than a symbolic value. When it comes to hard numbers, Muslims are indeed under-represented, relative to their population, in the armed forces, paramilitary forces, the police and sometimes even in corporate fields."
"The well-regarded actor Shabana Azmi, former Rajya Sabha member and a social activist, equally respected for her thespian qualities as well as her intellect, recently bemoaned the fact that builders in Mumbai, her city of residence, had refused to sell her property because she was a Muslim. This brought in a torrent of letters from similarly discriminated Muslims wishing to buy or rent property in Mumbai. Subsequent media attention to this episode brought to light the expected fact that this happens in other metro and non-metro cities with clockwork regularity."
"This underscores the social discrimination Muslims have to contend with, even when they are celebrities, in the cities and towns where they live. Such discrimination leads to the 'ghettoization' of Muslims, wherein they have to restrict themselves to certain areas in a town or city. In these areas, property is almost exclusively owned by and given out to Muslims. Its fallout can occur in terms of reverse discrimination in the sense that non-Muslims cannot find place in Muslim-dominated areas."
(Prateep K. Lahiri in 'Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the emergence of terrorism in India,' (Prateep K. Lahiri in 'Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the emergence of terrorism in India,' p. 84 Roli)
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