Corona has started showing signs of its exponential expansion in India and is creating a panic among citizens and government. The current number of positive cases is around 4750 with close to 120 deaths. Fortunately, the number is not very big as of now, if we consider the size of India’s population. Besides, this small number is probably also because very few people are being tested for COVID-19, the total number of tests done so far is around 100,000 (data source:www.ourworldindata.org) only and this is too little in a country populated like India. India is facing compounding problems, our health-care system capacity is generally weak across the country. For every 1000 people, we have approximately half a hospital bed, which is very less.  A big number of our population has respiratory problems such as Tuberculosis, Pneumonia and is exposed to a high rate of air pollution. Approximately one-third of the country’s adult population also has hypertension and is diabetic. All of these are only going to compound the problem.

Adding to the problem, a recent Tablighi Jamaat congregation organized in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz Masjid, in which preachers and followers have gathered from around a dozen countries for 3 days from 13-15 March 2020, has become a major worry for Indian officials trying to stop the spreading of COVID-19 outbreak.

Indian Authorities have launched a massive search for all those who attended the congregation at Nizamuddin, Delhi and to a certain extent have succeeded in this. It is going to be a big challenge for the authorities to trace all of them and isolate them from the rest of the population.

Upon the instruction of the Delhi government, Delhi police on Tuesday filed a criminal case against the group, for flouting guidelines and not maintaining physical distancing.

The Markaz Nizamuddin has sheltered around 2000 people according to authorities. No concrete number is coming out in public regarding the death and number of positive cases found but a certainly good number of people are believed to be positive and also died from COVID-19

What jamaat has to say on allegations:

Tablighi Jamaat denied all accusations and said, they were out of options and had to accommodate visitors stranded because of lockdown announced by the prime minister on March 24 and had notice of just 4 hours.

In a press statement, the group said, “Under such compelling circumstances, there was no option for Markaz Nizamuddin but to accommodate the stranded visitors with prescribed medical precautions till such time that situation becomes conducive for their movement or arrangements are made by the authorities,”.

Delhi police have registered a case against Maulana Saad and others of Tablighi Jamaat u/s 3 of Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 read with Section 269, 270, 271 and 120-B IPC for violation of government directions.

According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs  is set to blacklist hundreds of preachers from other countries who attended the congregation.

Authorities in the Indian capital on Tuesday sealed off the premises of Tablighi Jamaat, accusing it of organizing a religious gathering from March 13-15 and ignoring the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A senior government official on condition of anonymity said “They came here on a tourist visa but were participating in religious conferences. This is a violation of visa rules. We are going to blacklist around 800 Indonesian preachers so that in future they are not able to enter the country,”

Rana Safvi, a Delhi based prominent author accused the Tablighi jamaat of being “very irresponsible. They should not have gone ahead with the congregation”.

This congregation has definitely helped to spread the COVID-19 virus and also has dented the image of the Muslim community as a whole in the public eye at this time. A large section of media has now gotten material and will use this as an opportunity to spread hatred against Muslims.

What this Corona pandemic means to the current Indian politics:

The Tablighi congregation episode has given a chance to Hindu activist groups to push the Muslim community in a corner more than earlier.

Social media has already started its rants against Muslims on Tablighi congregation issue by highlighting the way Muslims live and should live, corona jihad is commonly being circulated on Whats-app. Isolation of Muslims will speed up and now it will be more easily accepted by a section of self-proclaimed nationalist Hindu society. It’s very similar to what was done to Jews in Germany during world war 2, in which Jews were portrayed as the main reason for the economic chaos and loss in world war 1. Very Systematically the idea was planted in the minds of Germans that they were Nationalists and Jews were anti-national.

The current Indian Economic condition was in very bad shape and was being continuously criticized. The financial market is in an impending crisis and this was visible through different parameters, jobs, foreign investment, manufacturing sector, automobile, agriculture, real estate, etc., most of these were already struggling to breathe. New jobs have not been created and more jobs have been lost after demonetization, and the government is not ready to disclose the data of job loss, and job created after demonetization.

The timing of COVID-19 and the callous and unfortunate incident of the Muslim jamaat congregation has given the BJP government a much-wanted opportunity to distract public attention from their failures and instead shift focus to try to vilify the already isolated Muslim community.

The sudden announcement of lockdown decision has left everything in mismanaged condition, very similar to demonetization, where the common man was the sufferer. This time the daily wager poor were stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a sudden loss of employment and with minimal reserves, no food or shelter as they live in shanties and rented homes. with no immediate help from the government for their basic needs left with no choice but to set out on foot for their faraway homes.

The government is ducking more relevant questions regarding what they have done to save the lives of many, who got infected by COVID-19.

The government is more interested in asking people to light candles, clap, and feel-good activities, and everything which is not so important. Instead, they should have come up in media or social media and assured the public about the concrete diagnostic and treatment infrastructure preparations they are engaged in, such as readying capacity in hospitals to handle cases, making diagnostics available and accessible in case of further spread and engaging the medical professionals and essential service providers who are at the front line in this battle.