By Shah Nawaz Afaque,
A lot of speculations are being made as to what would nation-states look like after the pandemic recedes. Some experts believe that Coronavirus might make the world more interdependent as the pandemic has given all the different nations with their varied political cultures and beliefs a single challenge to face, and nations depend on each other now, for knowledge on the cure and strategies to contain the outbreak, more than ever before. Trade of medical kits is all time high now, and Coronavirus has forced us all to rise above petty socio-political differences and focus on a united goal to overcome the pandemic.
Others believe that the world after Coronavirus would be a world less open, less prosperous and less free. That is because State authorities in the cover of securing their citizens from the contagious disease have mustered immense control of their lives via surveillance and lockdowns. Also, people have grown more and more skeptical of globalization as Coronavirus in the first place could become a pandemic within a few months span only because of a highly globalized and interconnected world order.
These speculations however could prove right or wrong in the context of the political scenario of a Nation right before the pandemic struck. The effect of Coronavirus on a particular nation’s political landscape might vary from country to country; Iran for instance might feel the urgent need to open up its market to the world, as Iran’s capacity to fight the pandemic is significantly hindered by US led economic sanctions that have forced Iran to close down its economy. North Korea’s status given its indifference to the pandemic and isolated existence might remain unchanged.
China after having dealt with the outbreak most effectively might emerge as the next big thing in international politics, while the Western nations struck by the Covid-19 spell collapse one after the other. India on the other side might witness a State that was never before so intrusive and hegemonic, as the events unfolding amidst the Coronavirus crisis suggest. We shall take a look at the events of the past few months to figure out what the post-pandemic India has in plate for us.
Anti-CAA/NRC protests:
The Government of India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on 11th of December, 2019. On the night of 15th December, Delhi Police under the authority of National Home Ministry ransacked Jamia Millia Islamia and ambushed Jamia students who were agitating against the citizenship act. In response to the police brutality, residents of a nearby locality, Shaheen Bagh, organized a sit-in protest.
The Shaheen Bagh protest evolved into a nationwide movement against PM Narendra Modi’s government, and similar Shaheen Bagh styled protests broke out at several locations in the country. The BJP left no stone unturned in vilifying the Shaheen Bagh protest, making it their central agenda in Delhi’s Vidhan Sabha Election 2020. Even though Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party had won by a huge margin, polarization had pretty much been normalized by that period.
Delhi Riots 2020:
Shaheen Bagh agitation had become the central point of contention as the protests gained international limelight. While the anti-CAA protesters demanded that the Centre roll back CAA and make its stand on nationwide NRC clear, its supporters pressed that the national highway that Shaheen Bagh protesters had been occupying must be cleared.
As the polarization intensified, a clash between the protesters and far-right groups broke out in the North-east district of Delhi on February 24. The clash soon erupted into a communal riot on the second day with stone pelting from both sides, and then into an organized pogrom against the Muslim community on the third and the last day. The violence claimed 53 lives, two-third of them were Muslims. Entire colonies were plundered and markets were burned down to ashes. The Central Government and Delhi police appeared complicit in the pogrom, and a polarized India became the new normal.
Coronavirus hits India:
Coronavirus came to India amidst a polarized nation that had witnessed communal riots in the Capital not very long back. The first case of Coronavirus was reported as early as January 30. Government of India didn’t take the Covid-19 challenge much seriously till mid-March even though Coronavirus was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO on January 30. Delhi Assembly Elections followed by Delhi riots kept the Indian authorities engaged and no serious planning to secure the country against Covid-19 was on the table till February last. Orders for universal screening at airports were issued only on March 5, and Health Ministry as late as March 13 didn’t consider Coronavirus ‘pandemic’ a health emergency.
The Tableeghi Jamaat controversy:
Tableeghi Jamaat is an orthodox Islamic organization that has a massive following among subcontinent’s Muslims. It is the largest Islamic organization aimed at bringing back Muslims to the fold of puritanical Islam. The organization was found in 1926 and has a presence in around 180 countries. The Tableeghi Jamaat’s Alami Markaz (international headquarter) in Nizamuddin locality of Delhi organised an Ijtima (congregation) in early March that was attended by Tableeghi members from across the country. At the event, Markaz had the presence of foreign Tableeghi members too, from China, France, Saudi Arabia, etc.
The Markaz complex is a super contagious place with community bathrooms, dining area, wuzu khana (ablution area) and sleeping space all at the basement conjoined. The ground floor is the masjid area that is jampacked with thousands of worshippers. The first floor is the Mashwara-gaah (consultation centre) where Delhite members of the Jamaat strategize. The second floor is exclusively reserved for foreign members. The remaining floors comprise big community halls where people pray and sleep. The possibility of a single positive Covid-19 case there meant a thousand more could easily get infected. The most dangerous aspect of the complex is a massive presence of foreign nationals throughout the year.
On March 30, it came to public notice that many of those members who had attended the ijtima in early March had developed Covid-19 symptoms and few of them had already succumbed to the disease. This sent shivers across the nation as Tableeghi members were found out to be carriers of the infection to their respective states. Some two thousand people who were rescued from the Markaz complex on March 31 were sent to various hospitals in Delhi or to quarantine centers depending on their health status. Many of them were later tested Covid-19 positive.
Muslims as ‘National Enemy’ of Modi’s Bharat:
The discourse that followed the Tableeghi Jamaat incident brought once again to the mainstream the ugly face of a polarized India. The communal tension that was subdued because of the Coronavirus crisis once again lingered back as National Media outlets left no stone unturned in demonizing the Muslim community. News headlines like “Corona jihad” and “Markaz ka corona bomb” made the rounds and the Indian Muslim community was made the national enemy overnight. Even professors from India’s most prestigious Delhi University could be heard openly attacking Muslims, let alone the not so educated Hindu sections, who were blatantly calling for genocide on social media platforms.
Indian Muslim’s dilemma explained:
Indian Muslims amidst the Tableeghi Jamaat controversy were caught in the dilemma of defending an ultra-orthodox organization against the assault of the far-right Hindus. There was no place for moderate and secular Muslims to voice their opinion as the situation demanded that you chose between the two regressive camps – Tableeghi Jamaat or the Hindu right-wing. If you voice your opinion against a regressive organization like Tableeghi Jamaat and hold them accountable for their historic blunder, you are emboldening the Hindu right-wing to attack an entire community for the misdoings of Tableeghi Jamaat. Else if you defend your community, you would find yourself amongst a people who are anxiously defending the medieval-ism of Tableeghi Jamaat and its regressive ideology.
The sense of paranoia now runs so deep among the latter, thanks to a hostile government and a right-leaning national media, that incidents of violence against health workers have also been reported in some Muslim localities. As it turns out, the authority of religion is now being represented by the most extreme voices on both the sides, as their chest-thumping followers wait to tear each other apart on the first chance they get.
Post-Apocalypse India:
Many Indian Muslims feel that the Coronavirus crisis have only fetched them some time against a deadlier calamity, i.e., a wide-scale violence or genocide towards which the country is directed. Muslims find themselves as villain in the Bollywood movies and dramas, sometimes as crafty terrorists in a modern setting and at other times as ruthless barbarians in a medieval setting. Meanwhile, to revive the Hindu pride, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is re-telecasting the Ramayana and the Mahabharata on Doordarshan to engage a wider audience as the entire nation sits back at home due to the lockdown.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is interacting with the nation more regularly now, asking them to simultaneously beat utensils and light diyas as symbolizing nation’s fight against Coronavirus. These practices appear to the supporters of Prime Minister Modi as reviving ancient Hindu wisdom, and many a times pseudo-scientific arguments are given to justify the logic behind these practices.
It can be fairly speculated that with an ever more intrusive State on one hand, that holds immense power at its disposal, to control the citizens via surveillance and lockdowns, and a polarized Nation on the other hand, where the Muslim minority is already dubbed a national enemy, the post-Coronavirus India would certainly be a less free society, a less prosperous market and a less open polity.
However, if the advocates of Muslim identity politics believe that by defending the regressive aspects of the Muslim society, they are empowering the community, it is not so. On the contrary, such attempts make their alienation far worse when they are provided with platforms to chest-thump their medieval orientation. Efforts should be made to provide them with such conditions that help them connect to the mainstream, so that regressive organizations like Tableeghi Jamaat don’t get an appropriate ecosystem to feed on their vulnerable and paranoid psyche.
(Shah Nawaz Afaque is a postgraduate in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia and an activist)