The end of secular pretence

This week, Rajasthan is set to pass a segregation law modelled after one in Gujarat. It is unlikely that most Indians will know of its existence because it is unlikely that the media will report it. Let us, therefore, look at what it is intended to achieve.

Poor people forced to live clubbed together is what we know as a 'slum'. An ethnic group forcibly relegated to certain neighbourhoods is a 'ghetto'. The former have no means to go elsewhere. The latter have no choice even if they have the means. Apartheid means separateness and refers to the policy of South Africa of forcing Black Africans into ghettos. They could only live in fixed spaces by law. 

When segregation in the United States was legally ended in the 1960s, the government passed laws that sought to integrate races, like the Fair Housing Act. It prevented discrimination in the buying and selling of properties, which was keeping the races separate.

All across Gujarat, in all major cities and several towns, the BJP government has done the opposite. Muslims are deliberately forced into ghettos through a law called the Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act.

The law requires citizens in particular parts of cities to seek permission from the government before selling their property or changing their tenant, and filters them by religion. The application must list the name of the buyer and the seller, and includes an affidavit that the sale has been without coercion and at market price. 

The law was passed initially by the Congress, and in 2009, the Modi government amended the Act to give discretionary powers to the collector to hold an inquiry and take possession of property.

In July 2019, another change was introduced. Previously, property sellers had to apply for permission to transfer their property and register their consent on affidavit. Now, it would not matter even if the sale was with free consent, and the fair value was paid to the owner. The collector could stop a sale of property if he felt at his discretion that there was any ‘disturbance in demographic equilibrium’ or ‘improper clustering of persons of a community’ or ‘likelihood of polarisation’, if the transfer took place. 

The collector could reject an application for the legal transfer of a property after making an assessment on these grounds. Punishment for transferring property without clearance was raised to six years in jail (it was six months when the law was introduced). The law now also allowed the state government to form a ‘Monitoring and Advisory Committee’ to keep a check on the demographic structure in neighbourhoods. This committee would advise the collectors on whether or not sales could be permitted.

The Act is currently in force in large parts of the state’s three largest cities, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat, and also in Bharuch, Kapadvanj, Anand and Godhra. These are also the places in which Gujarat’s Muslims are concentrated, effectively ghetto-ising them permanently. In other words, foreigners can lease and buy property in Gujarat that Indian Muslims cannot.

Last week, Rajasthan's cabinet approved a law that does the same in that state. Law minister Jogaram Patel said neighbourhoods with “improper clustering” would be targeted. The transfer of immovable properties in these areas without permission of the government would be void.

Like other laws persecuting minorities, this one is also given a benign name: the Rajasthan Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from the Premises in Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026.

Its effect will, of course, be the same as we have seen in Gujarat. It criminalises social and commercial intercourse between communities, in much the same way as Nazi Germany did. Violation of the law's provisions are non-bailable and cognisable, and punishable with imprisonment of up to five years, and a fine. You could go to jail for renting property.

The Congress in the state opposes the passing of the law, but lacks the numbers and will not be able to stop it. Its state chief said, “Demographic imbalance is not a legal term. There is no mention of the basis on which an area will be declared disturbed. The BJP wants to remain in power by following the Gujarat model.” 

This is true. India under Modi has hollowed out the Constitution’s secularism through a slew of laws that have found no resistance. The courts have looked away, the Opposition is too weak, and the media is complicit.

Criminalisation of the possession of beef was introduced in 2015, starting with Maharashtra and Haryana. Criminalisation of interfaith marriages came in 2018, starting with Uttarakhand. Criminalisation of Muslim divorce came in 2019, as did the community's specific exclusion from the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The Rajasthan law carries this progression forward. Step by step, law after law, we have entered New India, a majoritarian state that is shedding its carapace of secularism.

Views are personal. More of Aakar Patel’s writing may be read here