The story of the Bengali Muslim families in Gurgaon is one of resilience stretched thin under the weight of injustice. These families have made India their home, for years, sometimes decades. They hold Aadhar cards, PAN cards, voter IDs, even passports. On paper, they are citizens. In reality, they are treated like strangers, often like criminals.
A Life of Constant Displacement
When the Miles2Smile team visited the camp where more than thirty such families live, they found not just homes built of bamboo and tarpaulin, but lives scarred by constant displacement. Families spoke of being forced to move from one settlement to another, sometimes in the middle of the night, carrying whatever little they could. The camp was filled with stories of men, fathers, sons, brothers detained without cause. As per these households, the arrests are not just moments of fear, but ruptures that tear through their financial and emotional security.
Most of these men work as daily wage laborers. They rise before dawn to earn just enough to feed their children, yet their absence, even for a few days, pushes the entire family into crisis. The women left behind carry a double burden managing the home while worrying if their loved ones will return. Children, too young to understand the complexities of citizenship, grow up with the quiet knowledge that their fathers may not always come back at the end of the day.
Another hardship had crept in silently at the camp, the absence of electricity. Bills had mounted, unpaid because survival had to come first food before light, medicine before comfort. When the Miles2Smile team walked through the lanes of the settlement, they noticed homes dark even in the afternoon, fans hanging motionless in the heat. Families explained how, without electricity, evenings turned into stretches of helplessness. Mothers cooked by candlelight, children struggled to study, and the community felt the isolation that comes with literal darkness.
A Flicker of Hope
The Miles2Smile team decided to act. They cleared the outstanding bills and brought back electricity to the camp. As bulbs flickered to life and fans began to spin again, the settlement exhaled a sigh of relief.
Beneath the glow of that restored light, the larger story remains unchanged. These families continue to live in a cycle of fear and displacement, where the proof of their identity carries little protection. They are citizens, yet not accepted; workers, yet undervalued; humans, yet dehumanized.
