Mumbai: “Oh you from Bangladesh? Sorry! No Bangladeshi passport is allowed in our hotel. Government Permission nahi hai’– these were the words from the managers of Hotel Sea Green and Sea Green South.
To cover World Twenty20 semifinal match between India and the West Indies, a group of 10 Bangladeshi journalists travelled to Mumbai was refused accommodation in as many as 19 city hotels because of their nationality, the Dhaka Tribune reported on Wednesday.
“We were surprised to hear this. Why straight they were refusing to lodge us just because we are from Bangladesh. So have we sinned to be born in Bangladesh? We have not come here to travel. We came at the invitation of ICC. Even if we come for tourism what is wrong in that?”
Channelionline quoted another journalist as saying; “We were told to go to the Muslim-dominated neighbourhood of Dongri…”.
Mejbah ul Haq, one of the Bangladeshi journalists confirmed the reports to Scroll.in, saying they tried 19 hotels before eventually finding accommodation in one on South Mumbai’s Mohammad Ali Road.
However, the hotel managers denied the allegations, saying: “We welcome all nationalities.”
“We had a group of Bangladeshi families staying with us recently. We have never denied any nationality.”