All are not equal even in pandemic ..... Religious hatred refuses to retreat from our society even when unity across religions and castes is most needed

Geetartha Pathak  |   Telangana Today | 20th April 2020: In this unprecedented crisis created by the Coronavirus, many thought that our social and political discourses will rise above religious lines and build a strong national unity to combat the pandemic. However, it is unfortunate that religion-based hatred refuses to retreat from our society even at a time when unity across religions and castes is needed the most.

When the plight of the millions of migrant workers stranded at their workplace due to the sudden clamping of the lockdown and subsequent cancellation of all trains and buses was the focal point of discussion, it was suddenly overshadowed by the incident at the Markaz, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin, Delhi. The Markaz was identified as the hotbed of the infection following the death of several people who attended the congregation at Nizamuddin.

When panic gripped large parts of the country, the State governments on instruction from the Centre launched a massive search to identify all those who had visited the Markaz and people they came into contact with later. Over 25,000 Jamaat members and their contacts had been quarantined across nearly 15 States. Many of them tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Jamaat Congregation

Civil society members and observers blamed the Jamaat leadership for ‘carelessness’ during a global pandemic. They also blamed the Central government for its delayed response and allowing foreigners, particularly those coming from COVID-19 hotspot nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia, into the country. It has been officially claimed that nearly one-third of the total COVID-19 cases in the country are related to the Jamaat congregation.

During daily pandemic briefings, the Central government spokesperson was vociferous in giving details about the Tablighis. An Islamophobic environment resulted throughout the country amid a flurry of accusations and clarifications from either side.

The ultranationalist elements initiated an organised campaign targeting Muslims. Muslims were blamed for spreading the virus that has killed over one lakh people worldwide. #CoronaJihad trended on Twitter, with many ruling party leaders calling the religious gathering “Corona terrorism”. A Central minister did not even hesitate to call the Markaz gathering a “Talibani crime”.

Perceived Threat

TIME magazine reported that tweets with #CoronaJihad appeared nearly 3,00,000 times and were potentially seen by 165 million people since March 28. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said in an interview to Vice News, a New York-based current affairs channel, in a documentary released in April first week, that “all people are not equal”. “They [Muslims] are not in an equal category.” He also said that there is a danger in any country if Muslim population exceeds 30%.

Replying to a question asked by Ankit Kumar of ‘India Today TV’ on recent cases of infections caused through religious gatherings in India, Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO, said: “With regard to gatherings of any type, be they religious or be they for other purposes, there are always risks associated with such gatherings in the midst of a major epidemic. WHO has issued guidance on that. Many of these gatherings are now postponed or cancelled…..But it’s very important again; having COVID-19 is not anybody’s fault. Every case is a victim and every case needs to be treated with sensitivity. It’s very important that we’re not profiling COVID-19 along racial, along religious, along ethnic lines. This is not helpful.”

Notwithstanding WHO’s guidelines, a section of mainstream media, including social media platforms, have tried to demonise Muslims by holding them largely responsible for the pandemic in India.

Assam Case

Anomalies in COVID-19 test results of three of Markaz congregation attendees from Goalpara district of Assam have also cast some doubts. Joint Director, Health & Family Welfare, Dr Nilmadhab Das, told this writer that these three patients were removed from quarantine at Urban Health Centre, Moilaputa, Goalpara, and were admitted to the isolation ward on April 1, 2020, where test results of their swab samples were confirmed positive in the midnight hours, ie, at around 1 am on April 2. However, all the patients in the isolation ward did not exhibit any serious symptoms or illness, he added.

How a COVID patient without exhibiting any serious symptom can be tested positive in the first swab sample test and the same patients on 2nd sample after 48 hours, tested negative? Only medical experts will be able to explain it.

Moreover, when local MLA Mandal Abdul Rashid visited the hospital, where the three patients were treated following a commotion over shortage of personal protection equipment for the doctors and health workers, he asked the authority for the first test result that showed all the three were COVID-19 positive. However, the authorities said that they did not have the test report. Although it is the duty of the hospital authority to hand over the pathological test reports to the patient or to his/her relatives, the authorities did not comply with this requirement in the cases of these three suspected patients.

The MLA was grilled by a local TV channel owned by a ruling party Minister of Assam for asking the lab report of the test and was accused of flaring up communal tension in the district. Unfortunately, neither the administration nor the mainstream media focused on the negative result in the second test of these three Tablighi congregation attendee patients, who were declared positive in the first test 48 hours ago, which could have been a great success story in combating the deadly virus.

It is not to be denied that many persons who attended the Nizamuddin congregation got infected by the virus. However, the massive manhunt for the persons who attended the congregation and its aggressive coverage point to the same Hindutva agenda pursued by the ruling class. The Prime Minister wanted the people of India to fight the deadly virus unitedly.

People of India successfully observed Janata Curfew on March 22 and switched off light at the call of the Prime Minister to show that they are united in this fight. However, the divisive politics has once again raised its ugly head as usual and pushed the Muslims to the fringe of the unity move, all in the name of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.

(The author is a senior journalist from Assam)