NEW DELHI: A young MBA graduate was declined employment in a Indian company for being a Muslim.
According to details, management graduate Zeshan Ali Khan had applied for an opening in the company on May 19 and, according to him, he received a response within 15 minutes which said they hired only non-Muslim candidates.
“Thanks for your application. We regret to inform you that we hire only non-Muslim candidates,” the company said in response to his application.
Zeeshan said “I was looking for a job, I came to know about a recruitment drive taking place at Hare Krishna Exports Pvt LTD, one of the leading exports houses of the country. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to start my career with them.”
“I applied for a job day before yesterday in the evening at 5:45 PM and within 15 minutes I get a reply from them that we regret to inform you, we don’t hire Muslims. We only hire non-Muslim candidates. I was quite shocked when I read about this, I took a screen shot of it and posted it on Facebook,” he added.
“At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting foreign countries and inviting them for investment and pushing ahead the ‘Make in India’ campaign, the leading export houses are rejecting candidates for their religion,” he said.
The Indian National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has sought an explanation from the business house.
NCM chairperson Naseem Ahmed said, “We just received a petition this morning and as per our set procedure we will call for the comments of the respondent company and based on their response we will decide our course of action.
“If there is any truth in this, it is unfortunate. An inquiry should be conducted,” he said.
The alleged incident also drew criticism from the Centre’s BJP-led government, which said religious discrimination cannot be allowed.
Reacting to the controversy, Minister of state for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “A person’s caste, region or religion cannot be a demerit.
“Discrimination on the basis of religion is neither allowed by our system nor the Constitution. If there has been case in which he (Zeeshan) was denied or fired from the job only on the basis of his religion, then I feel its not right,” Naqvi said.
