Ali Sukhanver
NO one can make the BJP leaders realize that extremism particularly religious extremism is a poison which simply murders life. A local BJP leader Kapil Mishra has recently presented the worst example of hatred against the minorities. He said in a tweet, “In India Tablighi Jamaat people have begun spitting on the doctors and other health workers. It’s clear, their aim is to infect as many people as possible with Coronavirus and kill them. They are ‘human bombs’ in the guise of Coronavirus patients. They must be both hanged and shot.”
Exploitation of a natural calamity in such a cruel way is nothing but stupid selfishness. Unfortunately there are some unlucky ones who try to give everything a religious colouring even the Covid-19. Secular in nature and temperament are all pandemics, epidemics and all calamities; they never spare anyone on the basis of religion. If someone thinks, he is a Muslim and the virus of Covid-19 would not attack him, he is living in a fool’s paradise. Same is the case with Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and people following other religious philosophies. This pandemic would remain at arm’s length only from those who have a strong immunity system.
Unfortunately some of our friends in BJP are not willing to accept this reality. They are holding the Muslims and the ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ responsible for spread of Covid-19 virus in India. They are of the opinion that the Tablighi Jamaat held a large convention in mid-March in South Delhi. The convention was attended by about 8,000 people, including hundreds of foreigners. Some of the participants, allegedly, had the virus in them which was shifted to other participants also. When the participants went back to their homes the virus also travelled with them.
It is a very interesting fact that the convention was organized after getting proper permission from the government. Now making that convention the ‘bone of contention’, the BJP extremists have made the life of the Muslims hell in India. There have been reports that gangs of BJP extremists are doing violent attacks on Muslim majority areas blaming that the Muslims are the carriers of the Corona virus. These extremists are pressurizing the Muslim vendors to stop selling their goods in the streets. Reports say that in most of the villages where Muslims are in minority, young BJP workers have been posted at the entry points so that they could stop any Muslim from entering the village. In short the spread of Corona pandemic has been linked with the Muslims in India.
The question arises; does Corona virus really belongs to some particular religion? If it is the Tablighi Jamaat or the Muslims who are the only source of spreading this virus in India then what about Spain, Italy, USA and UK. Could we hold responsible the same Tablighi Jamaat or the Muslims for spreading this virus in those countries too? We see that in period of one month from 21st March 2020 to 21st April 2020, the total number of deaths because of Covid-19 in India was 603 and the confirmed cases during the same period were 18985.
Whereas in the US during one month’s period total number of confirmed cases was 800,932 and total number of deaths was 43,006. While doing any analysis of Corona disaster it must also be kept in mind that the total population of US is 328.2 million with 3.45 million Muslims whereas the total population of India is 1.353 billion with 201 million Muslims. The loss US is bearing cannot be compared with the loss India is bearing; there is a hell of difference but the US never claimed and blamed that the Muslims are responsible for such a severe loss.
Holding the Muslims responsible for the worsening situation with reference to Covid-19 is nothing but simply the prejudice and narrow-mindedness of the Hindu extremists. If this scenario remains the same, things would surely become more horrible for the Muslims in India. The most condemnable role in this entire context has been that of the BJP leaders. Instead of advising people to remain united, they are spreading venomous hatred against the Muslims. This world doesn’t need extremism particularly religious extremism. People following different religious philosophies are like fingers in a hand; those who try to label these fingers with different religious identities are enemies of humanity. From Hinduism to Islam, no religion preaches hatred based extremism. It is the need of time that all followers of all religions must work together for making this world a peaceful garden filled with colourful and fragrant flowers.
—The writer is freelance columnist based in Multan.
