Impenetrable Old Delhi??

Recently I was at a wedding where I met this lady. She was young, intelligent, opinionated, married with a kid, and was a Magistrate! We were discussing Old Delhi, and she believed that even today there are still some areas in Old Delhi in which even police does not dare to enter. She is not the first person from whom I have heard this stereotype. Shockingly, a lot of young, educated people have this opinion about Old Delhi.

Old Delhi is not one monolith place, since it was a walled city so its big and comprises of different mohallas and katras, and houses different castes and communities in them. Probably, since its streets have become narrower with growing population and time it is not open to prying eyes. It can give an impression of a closed society, with its busy, crowded bazars, and eateries, which are impossible to navigate through with cars.

 There are two ways to look at it. Having police at your back and call gives citizens a sense of security, but it also shows the penetration of the states' mechanism (Foucault). The part of Old Delhi around Jama Masjid   has had a difficult relationship with state being mostly a Muslim neighbourhood. Some right wing fundamentalists also refer to it as a 'mini-Pakistan', owing to its largely Muslim population. Even during the Emergency, when Government's bulldozers killed many innocent residents of Turkman Gate, the idea was to break this compact settlement of Muslims and disperse them in order to govern them better. The furore that followed made government give up that plan. But, it created a relationship of mistrust between the Muslims of Old Delhi and the state. Government now treads cautiously whenever there is talk of development or of any change in the structure in the city. This has also led to them turning a blind eye to rampant six storyed buildings coming up in narrow by-lanes. Police keeps an eye, but does not come unless it is a serious law and order issue. They have enough police posts in and around Old Delhi, which residents complain gives them a sense of being 'under surveillance' always! Especially in a world where terrorism is mostly attributed to just one community, they have to keep an eye on the trouble makers!

 So my dear friends, Old Delhi is no Naxal prone deep jungle where police cannot penetrate. There is far too much surveillance and too much police, just look around when you visit it the next time. Please visit without any fear and enjoy your Butter Chicken, while you are there!