By Ubaidullah Nasir
The world is facing a deadly virus corona, even the super power USA is helpless before this killer virus no country including India is safe from this virus which has first raised its head in China but nowhere it has got a religion except in India. I am ashamed while writing this truth but as a journalist and as a concerned citizen it is duty of all of us to highlight this communal virus which is plaguing our nation and threatening our national fabric .I am also ashamed that my journalist fraternity is playing very dirty game in spreading this communal virus so much so that Jamiatul Ulema Hind has filed a writ petition in Supreme Court requesting court to issue orders to media houses not to communalise the Covid 19. On the other hand the much demonized Tablighi Jamat has also issued a legal notice to Times of India group asking for its apology for spreading false hood against it, in its articles and pay Rs 1 Crore as a damage to its reputation. It has also filed a criminal defamation case under section 499 of IPC. Media which is considered to be the conscious keeper of nation has stoop so low that most of its news are being denied by police itself so much so that an eveninger “Star of Mysore” published from Mysore (Karnataka ) clearly calls for genocide of Muslims. Though it withdrew its editorial and published the apology also but it showed the mindset of a section of media. Many national channels and their anchors in frenzy are crying to term it as corona Jihad etc. Social media is too not lagging behind, there are lakhs of threatening comments on saner posts on Facebook and twitter. BJP IT cell has very successfully put in the minds of many many Hindus that corona was not a threat to India but for Tabligi Jamat event which was a conspiracy hatched by Jihadis to kill thousands of Hindus.
The trick worked to the benefit of government all its negligence, failures and shortcomings went behind curtain and all responsibility of spreading corona virus put on the shoulders of Muslims, this hatred was so injected in the hearts of our people that Muslim’s social and economic boycott started people even in remote villages are refusing to buy vegetables and other items from Muslim vendors, at some places these vendors are even beaten. A twenty two years old boy Mahboob Ali in Bawana village near delhi was beaten to death by youths from his own village simply because he has attended Tablighi event at Bhopal and after lockdown was declared he somehow came to Delhi from Bhopal where he was caught by police he was medically examined and was found negative and was left but when he reached village he was catched and killed similarly another boy Shazad committed suicide when his own neighbours started his social boycott and taunting him for ferrying few Tabligi jamat members on his motorcycle even though he too was found negative .
There is no denying the fact that by March 22 government of India was not taking seriously this deadly virus and all social political and religious events were going on usually however the threat was looming large globally. Our government was so negligent that it has not order even medical checkup of travelers coming from all over the world including most vulnerable countries, nor it has any preparation to face the virus inside the country. Our hospitals were and are still ill equipped. On 22 March Modi ji himself announces Janata Curfew and on 24 March suddenly the lockdown was declared compelling lakhs of labourers to leave their cities and rush to their native places even on foot almost 33% of them are corona carriers which is accepted by government itself in SC. The Tablighi Jamat event at its central office at Delhi came as a boon to government just like Pulwama, otherwise it was going to be Modi’s nemesis but as a clever player he turned the table and hardly anybody is now talking of government failures its negligence and its ill preparedness in dealing with this killer disease and if someone talks, he/she as usual is declared anti national supporting corona jihadis.
Nothing is more powerful in this world than human brain and one day our scientists and doctors will successfully treat and control this endemic also but the communal virus that has been injected to our social and national life will continue to take its toll for a long time to come .At a time when the whole world is joining hands to fight this deadly virus dividing society on communal line is the most shameful work that a human being could do .The communal situation in our country is so bad that even WHO has to issue the advisory that Corona must not be divided on religious ethnic and regional lines it is a threat to humanity and should be dealt as a joint threat by international community .Will our bigots heed this advise remains to be seen .