The Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary, is behaving only according to its known character and agenda. The real culprit, therefore, is the expedient silence maintained by the country’s second largest majority, political parties, liberals, seculars and intellectuals. They have all conveniently turned a Nelson’s eye to the reality when the country faces one of the gravest threats from the fatal but secular virus.
With their criminally irresponsible and nonsensical actions many foolhardy Tablighi Jamaat members have, at one stroke, succeeded in doing what even the bugbear created for months around the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) failed to do.
Many of you may prefer to play ostrich but this does not take away from the bitter truth that the Hindu-Muslim divide is touching a new all-time high these days. Hatred and mistrust between the two communities have reached a level where Muslim vendors are complaining that Hindus are avoiding them for the fear of getting Covid-19 infection. I see the rift widen further after the corona lockdown is over.
The most pertinent question that must be asked and answered here is who is responsible for this unfortunate situation to arise, after all— the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) or their allied organisations?
Be it abolition of the controversial Article 370, the Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of construction of the Ram temple at the disputes site in Ayodhya or be it the enactment of the CAA as well as the ‘proposal’ for bringing the NRC—they were all seen by many people as the BJP-RSS’s ‘game plan’ to polarize the country on communal lines. I do not know. Some of these charges may or may not be true.
HINDU-MUSLIM DIVIDE—WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
But, one thing is certain. Here, you cannot hold the BJP or the RSS responsible for what is happening in the country today—neither for the spread of the coronavirus nor for the widening Hindu-Muslim rift in the wake of the Islamic religious congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz in second week of March all that has followed the event since.
Maulana Saad 
Tablighi Jamaat members being taken from Nizamuddin Markaz for Quarantine
Thousands of Jamaat members gathered and held the Islamic religious event at the Nizamuddin Markaz in defiance of the Central government’s advisory and the Delhi government’s prohibitory orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. Maulana Saad, the Markaz chief, even released a video telling his followers not to follow government and doctors’ advice on the Covid-19 suggesting that coronavirus will not harm them.
Then, after returning from the Markaz, the Jamaat members, most of them infected, hid in mosques all over the country instead of submitting themselves for health check –ups and treatment if so needed despite repeated appeals. Those who were caught and put in hospitals/quarantine centres for treatment or isolation misbehaved with doctors, did obscene and nude acts before female health staff, spitted all around, and even urinated in the hospital wards apart from throwing tantrums and making unreasonable demands for food that was not on the menu.
There are reports that some 200 Jamaatis are absconding from Kerala and have switched off their cellphones to avoid being tracked down. On April 21, an Allahabad University (AU) professor and 29 others, including 16 foreign nationals were arrested for hiding travel history and violating travel norms .Professor Shahid Mohammed of AU, along with others had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi and even made arrangements for the stay of other Jamaatis in Prayagraj. Mind it he is professor teaching political science to students and not a ‘Jahil’ (illiterate), a term often used to cover up even terrorist activities.
As if all this were not enough health workers and police personnel were beaten and stoned in and chased away from Muslim localities to prevent them from conducting health check-ups or taking corona-suspects to quarantine centres. Such incidents are taking place all the country every day with the same pattern.
Also, a few Muslim youths have been caught for making and sharing videos proudly giving tips to members of their community how to spread coronavirus in India. There are many genuine videos showing Muslim vendors spitting on fruits and vegetables they sold or corona-virus infected Muslim men or women spitting on health others. Some were seen even propagating that corona had something to do with the holy Quran and hence would not harm Muslims. Religious gatherings still continue to take place at many mosques even as the biggest temples, churches and gurudwaras are locked and so are the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina all as a precaution against the possible spread of the deadly secular virus.
In fact, the Tablighi Jamaat and its followersare responsible for not only deliberately spreading the corona infection in the country but also for communalising the secular virus itself and thereby deepening Hindu-Muslim hatred most probably as a part of a well-planned conspiracy. There does appear to be a method in their madness.
EXPEDEINT SILENCE—THE BIGGER CULPRIT
What the Tabilghi Jamaat is doing is not that surprising. Its suspicious activities have always been on the intelligence and security agencies’ radar. Prakash Singh, a former director-general of police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh told a prominent Hindi newspaper only a few days ago that that the Tablighi Jamaat has been a torchbearer of terrorism in India. The Jamaat, according to him misleads Muslim youths into fundamentalism in the name of propagation of Islam in the world.
The Tablighi Jamaat is acting only according to its known character and agenda. It perhaps sees corona virus as a God-sent weapon to use in its jihad against India.
The real culprit, therefore, is not the Tablighi Jamaat as such but the expedient silence maintained by the country’s second largest majority, political parties, liberals and seculars over the Jamaat’s stupid and criminal actions and also over a growing number of attacks on innocent corona warriors in Muslim localities.
GOOD VS BAD MUSLIMS
There is no reason to believe that all Muslims are same or all of them approve of Tablighi Jamaat’s criminally nonsensical actions that we are witnessing amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Neither will all of them be happy to see attacks on doctors and other staff. Many of them, one hopes, must be feeling equally angry to see all this.
Women pelting corona warriors in Moradabad
The problem, however, is that barring a handful of Muslims who are often termed as BJP agents for their liberal and sensible views, no other Muslim has deemed it fit to condemn the Tablighi Jamaat members for their diabolical deeds or raise a voice against attacks on doctors and police personnel in Muslim localities. They act the same way—always.
On the contrary, many of them have now begun defending the Jamaat members’ actions as well as attacks on medical and police teams by playing the victim card—an old tactics. They have started trying to change the entire narrative by accusing the media of targeting the entire community by giving a communal colour to the disease, a stupid and baseless argument, though. When cornered on TV debate shows, some do condemn but they do it with so many ifs and buts and indulge in so much of whataboutery that they only end up giving firing cover to the perpetrators.
So, when bad Muslims do wrong, good Muslims fail to rise to the occasion by not calling a spade a spade. Instead of taking on bad Muslims, good Muslims indirectly lend support to them by being silent or by giving a fire cover or by projecting Muslims as victims. Silence, as an old proverb goes, means giving consent.
Only they know whether their silence is a result of some genuine compulsion they cannot resist or it is a part of the same design aimed to achieve the same common ‘goal’ that they may think to be above sectarian and other differences (Shia-Sunni for example) within the community.
This behaviour in sharp contrast to the courage the people of majority community display under the similar circumstances. This is no secret that when any Hindu does wrong to any Muslim or otherwise, he is liberally criticized more by Hindus than Muslims.
For example, when singer Kanika Kapoor was tested positive for the novel coronavirus, she was slammed by everyone for not going into self-quarantine after returning to India from London a few days ago. Users on social media users called her “irresponsible” and “uneducated” when they got to know that she has reportedly attended several high-profile parties and events after arriving in the country. She was trolled on social media with filthiest comments.
Did anyone think of her religion while condemning the singer? The wrongdoers are wrongdoers and deserve an outright condemnation by all without any ifs and buts, regardless of the religion they belong to.
PSEUDO SECULARS-LIBERALS HAVE BURIED THEIR NOSE IN SAND
The silence is even more deafening in the camp of political parties as well as in the ‘liberal’- ‘secular’ camp. They are all dead silent not only over Jamaat members’ irresponsible and silly acts but also over criminal attacks on health and police personnel who are rendering service to everyone in the crisis timerisking their own life.
This is important to note that these are the same people who would dub each mob lynching incident as communal and create storm in the cup of tea by writing letters, returning awards, taking out candle marchesetc if the victim happened to be a Muslim. Many would even offer to return their awards in protest. Today, these double-faced people have conveniently buried their head in the sand when there are deliberate attempts to spread the innocent coronavirus and the corona warriors are being attacked and beaten. These people are full of biases and prejudices and largely responsible widening the Hindu-Muslim rift.
A doctor grievously injured after mob attacks in Moradabad
There is still one more category that comprises people who in their hearts of heart do feel angry at the Tabligi Jamaat’s behavior and attacks on the corona warriors but they cannot afford to condemn all this. This is because, to hem, opposing these actions would amount to supporting Modi, their bête noire for the reasons most of them do not exactly know!
TIME FOR SECOND LARGEST MAJORITY TO INTROSPECT
This is the high time for the country’s second largest majority community to do serious introspection and rise to the occasion by breaking its stoic silence and condemning Tablighi Jamaat’s covidiocity and criminal attacks on corona warriors in Muslim ghettos.
They must realize that the Tablighi’s Jamaat’s disgusting behavior and attacks on corona warriors by others at a time when the country is fighting its biggest enemy in the form of the Covid-19 has brought a bad name to the entire community that is being mocked at and looked down upon not just in India but in the world.
Otherwise, their silence, it is feared, may trigger an ear-piercing explosion in India sooner than later because people are boiling with anger and their patience is paying off. And if you don’t mind the patience bomb to explode believing this will not harm you as many foolhardy people wrongly thought that were immune to corona, then God help you!
Courteous :Brajendra K Parashar
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