By Mohammad Saif
Since 2014, in the wake of the Modi Government in India, the alarming transformation of Indian politics is looking dangerous towards Indian Muslims. Since his government in power, ceaseless events of atrocities against Muslims are manifested. Identically, Modi 2.0 is not as desperate than earlier towards Muslims. The exploitation of pandemic (COVID-19) through religious profiling of Muslims, is a “New Normal” in India and people have used this pandemic as an opportunity to demonize Muslims, which were already being targeted through Citizenship Amendment Act in India. This pandemic added momentum in the agenda of Hindu Majoritarian states.
Travesty of Facts
Rottenly, the virus globally spread across the world; of course, the outbreak is not unprecedented. Washington and London had weeks of explicit warnings regarding the outbreak, and an array of examples to follow, yet pleas from epidemiologists were unheard. Wuhan of China was the centre of origin of this virus. This catastrophic virus is not related to any particular religion or community as well as WHO refrain India to religious profiling of COVID-19 cases. Here in India the virus found its religious colour and was communalized by Hindutva brigade.
Recently, a religious congregation of Muslims at Markaz Nizamuddin Delhi-India known as World Headquarter of Tablighi Jamaat, became a scapegoat of spreading the virus in India. The Islamic congregation event held between 13 to 15 march, an overwhelming majority consisted of foreigners from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, and some from African and European continents. Several among them were tested positive. They were admitted at the various hospitals in Delhi. A video of a prayer of these people was uploaded by a Twitter handle blaming these Tablighi as sneezing purposefully to spread novel coronavirus at Markaz Nizamuddin. Later on, it was clarified in a report of Anti-fake news by India Today and clarified that they were in a position of Zikir or Zikir, a methodology of praying.
While before the congregation, already there were around 50 cases of coronavirus in India, but the pious Tablighi people – who have nothing to do with politics and their only mission is to recall their Islamic brothers towards the Almighty God and life of the prophet (S.A.W.) were alleged as the super-spreaders of the new COVID-19 outbreak. So the facts were dismantled by ultra Hindu nationalist organization and their people to chase their Hindutva agenda, which is innate to their anti-Muslim propaganda of placing Muslims as anti-national and showing their recklessness toward the sake of Indian people. This propaganda has created hatred against Muslims along with beating Muslims and refusing to purchase vegetables and other kinds of stuff from Muslims in the aftermath of this event.
Hiding government failure and targeting Muslims
This is partly because the government’s lethargic response to handle COVID-19 outbreak is looking worse in India. On the 30th of January, a case of coronavirus came into light in India, just before an hour’s notice when the World Health Organization declared it as a world health emergency. It was on 22 March when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced complete lockdown. Modi gave a long lecture by addressing people by showing his shallowness of future policy measures for people of India. Precipitous announcement of Lockdown just before 4 hours left in the midnight, led to an unpleasant situation at shops to purchase groceries and needy food items. It was an emergency-like situation in the country. This was troublesome for a moment because the PM assured that needy items will be available in due time as scheduled by the government. There was an exclusion of stranded Migrant workers and poor people, which consists of an overwhelming majority of the Indian population, migrated and residing in big cities to earn money for their families. A sudden Lockdown puts them into a dilemma about what they will have to do? Albeit, after closing down factories and big trade centres, they had no work to do. The government left them alone without any policy measure, rather than giving them allowances and facilitating them to take their home. We can measure the recklessness of the government by appealing to Modi to take care of poor people of the country as charity. Many stranded migrant workers in big cities had no resources to stay, even no money to eat for a day and they started to walk on foot to their destination. Among them, so many people died on their way home and some of them after reaching home.
The irony is that after a big measure of starvation in India in near future and looming public health disaster a narrative of blaming Muslims is in full swing. The failure of government at policy level left them alone and face harsh criticism, despite any consolidated and committed action to handle the crises Modi started to propagate populist agenda. Instead of taking further measures to ensure the public care in this pandemic, the issue was communalized by Hindutva Brigade, the hate crimes are looming large in the country in much prosperity since the outbreak. Indian Muslims are being targeted by Hindutva mob in the name of spreading coronavirus in the country. Recently several young Muslim men were beaten up by the mob in the name of “corona jihad” a baseless allegation made over these young Muslims as they are spreading corona by spitting in water and vegetables to sell it.
On 5 April, a 22-year-old man who returned from Tablighi Jam was beaten up in outer Delhi’s Harewali village. A family was attacked for making a video of Sunday’s ‘Diya Jalao’ event in Gurgaon’s Manohar Colony, and four men fired outside a mosque in Gurgaon’s Dhankot village in three separate incidents of violence linked to coronavirus rumours over the weekend. Several vegetable vendors were interrogated and beaten after assailants came to know their Muslim name. People also refuse to take vegetables or any other stuff from Muslims in India.
Conclusion
These heart-wrenching events are common even in this outburst of Covid-19, where we need more cooperation. The largest democracy of this world is lacking the plural accommodative feature of its glorious past. The amounting crisis is appearing in India’s plural vision, where a particular community is blamed as a whole for spreading the virus despite having not any proof of this malicious activity done by a particular community.
Mohammad Saif is working as a Research scholar in the Department of Political Science A.M.U., Aligarh.