fter Goa, it is the turn of New Delhi. The Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of Arjun Nagar at Green Park in south Delhi is planning to pass a resolution instructing local landlords and property dealers to stop renting apartments to people of African descent. The area has a considerable population of Africans, mostly Nigerians. The locals are unhappy with them, accuse them of being a nuisance and allege that most of them are involved in criminal activities like drug peddling.

Angry Nigerians, on the other hand, accuse Indians of racism and say that they are being unfairly targeted. They are wary of straying outside their groups or mixing with the local population. This cauldron of hatred and suspicion is about to overflow, as a visit to the area proved.

Anil Sharma, a property dealer, who is also the joint secretary of DDA Market, Arjun Nagar said, "We are trying to get a resolution passed by the RWA that these people shouldn't be given houses on rent. The landlords often complain about that the problems they face when these tenants do not vacate the house e on time, party till late at night and fight with the landlords. We have had various cases where landlords have regretted giving these people their houses on rent. It is extremely hard to say anything to these people as they are well built and look very dangerous."

The local community uses the racist slur "Habshi" (nigger) to refer to all people of African descent. Rumours abound about how some Nigerians killed a human child and ate it in January this year. Denying that any such incident took place, an officer at the Safdarjung police station said on the condition of anonymity, "If any such incident had happened this year, it would have attracted a lot of media attention and everyone would have known about it."

“Just because a few Nigerians have been caught in a drug scandal, does not mean that all of us are peddlers. People should stop generalising...”

Responding to such a perverse rumour, a Nigerian student studying at Mahatma Gandhi University said on the condition of anonymity, "I feel terrible when I hear such rumours. There are so many Indians who live in Nigeria (about 1 million) and we treat them like VVIPs in our country. They are given comfortable houses and good security. It is the exact opposite here. People are extremely bitter towards us because of our skin colour. We face difficulties in acquiring a post-paid SIM card, opening a bank account, getting a part-time job. We have to give a higher amount as rent as compared to White foreigners who are treated well by the locals. We come here to study and if the government does not want us to study here they should not accept our applications in the first place. I will leave India as soon as I finish my studies and move to some other place where people are not racist."

"Just because a few Nigerians have been caught in some drug scandal does not mean that all of us are peddlers. People should stop generalising. I am sure a lot of Europeans have also been caught in drug related crimes in India but that does not mean all Europeans coming to India are peddling drugs," he added.Image 2nd

Any visit to the area corroborates the existence of such stereotypes. Johnson Pedrew, a Nigerian national, who is a student of NIIT, complained of the glaring discrimination that he is subjected to: "People are very hostile towards us. They call us derogatory names and refer to us as monkeys. The administration does little to stop this." He told this correspondent about an incident when his cousin was brutally beaten up by a few locals one month ago but the police did nothing to ensure law and order. "The police is highly racist and are of no help," he said.

The people of African descent have carved out a separate life for themselves when it comes to socialising. Several Nigerians own businesses in the area, including a restaurant by the name of "Many's Square Restaurant", a designer brand showroom called "Diamond Ark" and a couple of beauty salons. These businesses cater mostly to Nigerians living in the city. An Indian who owns a salon next to a Nigerian owned salon asserted, "All these Nigerians are involved in illegal things and everyone knows it." He could not specify what these illegal things were.

The president of RWA Arjun Nagar, O.N. Sharma feels that the Nigerians are a big problem in the area and that passing this resolution might solve it. "These people look the same. They rent an apartment and then the landlords do not know how many are staying there, because they all look the same."