Disabled activist denied entry by restaurant: Delhi's culture of untouchability must end
It's a matter of deep shame that Nipun Malhotra, a young entrepreneur was denied entry by Keya, a restaurant in Delhi. I was shell-shocked, first in disbelief, then in pain. Not anymore. Instead, this incident made me think - what happened with Nipun is actually a musty cocktail of our filthy attitudes which has finally erupted.
Nipun and I went to St Stephen's College together and we have been friends since then. Nipun used to be a star student in college. He read economics, was founding president of the entrepreneurship cell, which thrived under his leadership, excelled in competitions like Dream Merger, regularly participated in debates and discussions. Till today he is actively involved in the Social Service League - in all he contributed to the total life of the college and excelled at it.
This late August, a blue coloured invitation card took me by surprise. It was from "Nipun Malhotra - founder of the Nipman Foundation". Nipun's brainchild - the foundation had organised an awards ceremony and I went to attend that. That evening I came across a proud Stephanian who brought laurels to our alma mater - made all of us so proud of his initiatives. Over our numerous chats, Nipun always tells me that he wants to make our public sphere "inclusive", "open" and "accessible" - a barrier free India which doesn't exclude anyone.
What happened with Nipun reminds me of a story my mother used to tell me whenever I complained why there was no electricity in our place or why my school was far away (took me almost two hours to reach there) she used to tell me: A boy called Bhim was not allowed to sit inside the class with other kids. So he used to sit outside the classroom and listen to his tutor. He was refused water from the school tap for they considered him "an untouchable". This boy went on to earn doctoral degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia. We know him today as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar - the father of the Indian Constitution.
Even today not a single parliamentarian can rival the kind of education that Babasaheb had. Above all, Babasaheb's vision for India as an inclusive, plural nation that is reflected in the Constitution. By denying Nipun entry into a public eatery, Keya has firmly proven that it's on the side of those who curtailed Babasaheb's access to a tap. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability aims to "promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity". Article 17 (c) of the Constitution which very clearly prohibits untouchability and declares such actions as offences "subjecting any person to disability with regard to access to any shop, public restaurant, hotel or public entertainment or with regard to the use of any reservoir, tap or any other source of water, road, cremation ground or any other place where 'services are rendered to the public'".
In Nipun's case all these rights have been wilfully, woefully violated. This exclusionary action apart, the kind of apathy and lack of any remorse whatsoever puts a question mark on us as a society. Are we headed to become emotionless morons, operated by some obscure computer language "O" or "1"? Either you are like us, or the space is "out of bounds".
It is such mindless exclusion, deeply ingrained prejudice against anyone who is different - differently abled, Dalit, racial, cultural, religious and linguistic minorities. For the sake of the idea of India, I urge fellow India not to let our public sphere and our minds hijacked by such "constricting" elements. Instead of banning free flow of ideas and free movement of our people, we must proscribe harbouring prejudices against each other. Once and for all.