City’s Greek Orthodox Church celebrates centenary
The Greek Orthodox Church in south Kolkata, the only one of its kind in the country, celebrated its centenary today.
A leading supermarket chain, run by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), has come under fire for stopping an Indian-origin Muslim couple from tasting its complimentary snacks on offer for Muslims for the ongoing Ramadan.
The couple, Jahabar Shalih and Farah Nadya, was on their usual grocery shopping with their two young children when a male employee at the supermarket asked them to leave the ‘Iftar Bites station’.
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The station, which was rolled out by FairPrice Group on March 23, offers complimentary beverages with snacks or dates to Muslim customers during the month-long Ramadan period.
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The couple’s encounter has caused an immense outrage on social media circles, with Farah’s Facebook post about the incident receiving over 500 reactions. The incident has prompted the supermarket to issue an unqualified apology for the employee’s actions.
“I walked over just to read what was on the board because I thought it was generally a nice gesture by NTUC and it is. As I started reading it this staff from NTUC approached me and he told me ‘no India’ … and I was like ‘what’?” Jahabar said.
When Jahabar asked the male employee about the reason, he said, “No India, only Malay” and repeated that “Indians cannot take”. The couple was shocked at the behaviour of the employee which was quite strange.
Jahabar Shalih tried to reason with the staff member at the NTUC-run supermarket after being stopped from accessing the complimentary snacks. However, the employee remained reluctant to budge from his stand citing the instructions that he said he had received from “people at the top”.
Though left frustrated by the incident, Jahabar continued shopping, but his wife decided to bring the discriminatory behaviour of the employee into the public domain.
The FairPrice shop has since engaged with the couple to address their concerns and has profusely apologised for the incident, clarifying that Iftar Packs are offered to all Muslim customers during Ramadan irrespective of their ethnicity. The supermarket has also counseled its employee accordingly.
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