Delhi has been a city which has accepted people of various communities for many many years, who have made it their home and have helped build the city bit by bit over a period of a thousand years, under the reign of several rulers. Delhi does not belong to any specific social group, but it is a city for everyone. Over a period of time, the inflow of refugees into Delhi has resulted in an expansion of the boundaries of the city, which has made Delhi the city it is today- extremely diverse and cosmopolitan which caters to the need of every person living here.
It was Kimberly Crenshaw who coined the term intersectionality to describe the way people’s social identities can overlap, the venn diagram of characteristics like gender, class, race, caste, religion etc overlap to create one single person’s identity. In India where we proudly proclaim our diversity, it is of utmost importance that we study this intersectionality to understand our heterogeneous population. And it is in this context that I view our capital city, one with heterogeneity ingrained into its very existence that no amount of trials at homogenisation by those in power can ever be successful here. The history of this deeply forested and arid land alleged to be the very Indraprastha of the epic Mahabharata is fascinating more so because of its people. What makes a city is not the physical area but who occupies these areas, and Delhi’s history can never be removed from the history of its people; a history refugees from all over South Asia helped create. The intersecting identities they carried from their own homelands, and the trauma from the trials and tribulations of their migration is a very important aspect of studying their history and in turn the history of the Delhi they created.
In the 13th and 14th centuries refugees from Western and Central Asia who flocked to the city cut down the forests and settled down all over the area with cultivation when the Quila Raipithora was based as the headquarters of the newly established kingdom of Muhammad Ghori and subsequently of Qutub-ud-din-Aibak,. These refugees, many of whom were fleeing the Mongol invasions are credited for populating the otherwise unrecognisable and uncultivated land as well as aiding and maintaining the sultanates’ hold over the newly conquered areas. The new capital of the Delhi sultanate was established along the rocky and dry regions close to the Aravallis, but with the population pressure cultivated areas were further increased and tank construction for adequate water supply became a key factor, thus extending the borders of the capital to Haus Khas. During the reign of Alauddin Khilji, the capital consisted of two important yet isolated areas, the Qutub Delhi ( old Delhi) with Siri as an extension; by this time the capital had undergone such a massive change, all thanks to its people who were more than ready to put down their roots, that travellers and Sufi saints like Ibn Battuta and Nizam-al-din Auliya described Delhi as a commercial hub. When Muhammad bin Tughluq moved the capital of the sultanate, it was followed by a stream of outmigration which was aided by the famines hitting Delhi. But the movement of the capital to Daulatabad was again possible because of the large scale cultivation undertaken by the refugees which expanded all the way to Deccan. When Firuzabad became the new capital during the rule of Firuz Shah Tughluq,a massive repopulation of Delhi was seen, but this time closer to the river Yamuna enclosing most of the area that later became Shahjahanabad.
Fast-forwarding to 1947, the newly independent India had an old capital and newer problems. The Delhi of 1947 remained confined to the old walled city despite the British trials at reimagining the capital. Lutyens’ Delhi, the old secretariat complex and civil lanes were far removed from the daily grind of life, remaining in the periphery of where people settled. In the end it was the unplanned partition that actually transformed the city, increasing the urban landscape from 42 square kilometres in 1901 to 445 square kilometres by 1971. The refugees of partition initially settled all over the country but eventually thronged to Delhi, the city many saw as the land of opportunities. And many of the refugees fleeing from Lahore, having an already urban background, found solace in the urban complexes of Delhi. And needless to say the city was transformed in ways no amount of planning could have predicted. Initially occupying camps in schools, temples, gurudwaras, military barracks etc, the refugee population also occupied the newly abandoned houses.
In order to help the newly migrated population the ministry of rehabilitation was set up in 1947, which undertook allotment and construction of houses, shops, cooperative societies for access to credit, educational facilities and industrial enterprises. Although the government’s approach was helpful in creating a foundation, , they are not the only reason for the immediate adaptation to and reclamation of the city. New townships sprang up all over the city, with four core areas; Malviya Nagar in the south, Patel Nagar, Rajendra Nagar, Ramesh Nagar and Tilak Nagar in the west, Gandhi Nagar in Shahdara in the east.In South Delhi it was at CR Park that the refugees of east Pakistan settled after partition. Established in 1964, this Bengali enclave also deemed Delhi’s mini Bengal echoes the neighborhoods of east Pakistan. By the 1960s Delhi already had a thriving Bengali population, when the department of rehabilitation announced the creation of a neighbourhood specifically for those displaced from East Bengal, a large population of Delhi’s already existing Bengali population was found eligible for land allotment there.These townships became the independent nuclei for further expansion and extension of the limits of the city. Delhi expanded to Kailash and Qutub in the south, covering Faridabad in the south east, Gurgaon in the south west, well beyond Najafgarh in the west and Shahdara and Ghaziabad in the east. . What was witnessed in these new settlements were a nostalgic attempt to go back to the home they knew all their lives, one they could not return to; which can be witnessed from the new streets and townships modelled on their earlier homes.
Once people were settled the wealthier moved onto new settlements in Golf Links, Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash, Ring Road and Defence Colony, which still remain the more posh areas of Delhi. The stories of trauma of the very many over losing their homes go hand in hand with the stories of success, of business and educational success. Many described the new city as filled with opportunities and a record number of people with the ‘can-do’ attitude ready to make use of it. The result was the rapid urbanisation of Delhi, and its transformation to a hub of trade and commerce.
But not all stories of refugees in Delhi are of success and near perfect adaptation. The social and political factors of unreceptiveness can and has led to the next generation of refugees in Delhi missing out on a smooth transition. The story of refugees from Bangladesh who trickled onto the capital after the 1971 independence war now settled in New Seemapuri or Okhla or the former colony on the east bank of Yamuna River are dire. These areas have several blocks of authorised houses followed by rows of unauthorised huts. The demographic composition are the landless labourers who sought refuge in the city to avoid hunger and poverty in Bangladesh, the majority of them are illiterate and semi-skilled. One of the major constraints for them is the illegality of their status in India, although many believed that they would get the Indian citizenship when they migrated, it seems to be a distant dream with no chance for fruition. Their primary identity is not as a Bangladeshi or Muslim but as human beings trying to escape poverty and find gainful employment. Although there are makeshift schools and madrasas in these settlements, there is a breakdown of prior social customs, like the sharia prohibited alcohol is consumed by the young workforce here, and married women who would not have been allowed to work in their villages are gainfully employed. Over the years these settlements have seen promises made and promises broken, forceful evacuation, alienation and other hardships from those in power.
The situation of Rohingya refugees and Sikh and Christian refugees from Afghanistan are equally grim. Although we receive a huge number of refugees from the neighbouring nations, India does not have a proper legal framework for guaranteeing them asylum or protection. These Burmese and Afghani refugees stay in settlements scattered throughout the city in places like Vikaspuri, Janakpuri, Khazoori Khas, Lajpat nagar, Malviya Nagar, Shaheen Bagh, Sheikh Sarai and even Majnu ka Tila. The illegality of their stay and not being granted citizenship even after residing in India for more than two decades, hinder their employment opportunities pushing them further into the fringes of the society. The alienation and othering they face here add to the trauma of their existence and loss of home.
Not everyone who seeks refuge in the city is denied legality, as evidenced by Tibetan refugees in the ethnic enclave at Majnu ka Tila, adding a fresh face to an ever changing landscape of the capital city. The legality of their stay somehow helps them survive and often thrive with their own business enterprises in the city. Although many still dream of freeing Tibet and moving there, they have made a temporary home here.
It is an undeniable fact that people make history; the world we see today was not made by just the kings or the ones in power but by the everyday people. Studying the history of Delhi through the monuments and the kings who commissioned them to be built limits our understanding of the city. The intersectionality of identities of individuals are captivating and can only ever make history that much more fascinating, and to gloss over this is a flaw in the way we view history. It’s high time that we view the city for what it is and not what it ought to be. Resilience embodied are the people of Delhi, who have faced trials and tribulations in the past but have set up camp here for better or for worse.
Induja Thampi
Induja Thampi completed her undergraduate degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College and is currently doing her post graduation from Central University of Tamil Nadu. She loves to read and believes in humanity's ability to right its wrongdoings. With a pen in hand and a few trusty books at her desk she tries to go about doing just that, wherever injustice prevails.