By
Deepali, I year, zakir hussain Delhi college
The year 2020, the year no one imagined even in their dreams not only because of a pandemic but also because of the various reason this year like Delhi burned (riots), Trump lost (US election) PUBG and Tiktok get banned due to Indo-china conflict, Bollywood and drugs became the hot topic, freedom of speech became a joke and of course latest one of farmers protest in all of these issues Tablighi jamaat news came to limelight in news during the pandemic they were blamed to spread the virus in India but wait who are these people? Did they come to spread the virus in India? Tablighi jamaat means society of preachers. It is the Sunni Islamic missionary movement that focuses on exhorting Muslim to practice their religion that during the time of prophet Muhammad. The movement was launched by Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas khandha law in 1926 in Mewat, Haryana Maybe India was not familiar with them for me it was sure but March - April 2020 is here and news about them is all over there.
Nizamuddin Markaz became the hotspot of corona but Indian media, social media became a hotspot of communal hatred. They were allegedly for spreading the viruses in the country. I am not saying that they were not wrong but blaming the whole community is not right. It is saying that when something is wrong to blame the person, not the religion but there was not the case people of particular were blamed (particular Muslim) India, were the idea of secularism is foremost start getting shaded when the one community started treating other community differently In many places the vendors were asked to tell their religion, we never thought the day will come in India but it came where people will buy vegetables from the particular community more than fun it was disturbing, what the mistake the vendors have committed. At many places, the vendors were beaten up. Is it a crime to be from a particular community? What about their families and their survival? " A doctor in Bharatpur indirectly refused to treat the pregnant Muslim women in urgent need of help, following which she lost her baby" reported wire on 5 April 2020. What the crime did the child committed? Media reporting is also questionable, their credibility was in dark. The mainstream media started to give a communal colour to the situation they were not giving statically report but targeting the particular community calling them whatnot, for me the situation was more likely like the Rwanda radio news. The fake news started to get heated up not only in social media but by news Channel to polarized the opinions against one community On social media various hate groups and tags were made such as # coronajihad #coronaterror and it was trending this trending shows people changing views about other communities and on that time communal hatred was spread more than coronavirus. The government who used to be an ideal example of constitution followers started unfollowing the constitution! The politician appeared on national TV and gave a hate speech and argued to not buy from a particular community. Do vegetables have any religion? which manipulated the views of people? The government also started reporting infected people from viruses differently from jammies inflected from the virus. This created a view among the citizens that they are different from us; they came to destroy us and India.
The government blacklisted the names of 960 foreigners and cancelled their visas in early April for violating the visa conditions for their involvement in the activities of the Tablighi Jamaat. The Home Ministry had directed the Delhi Police and the police chiefs of other states to take legal action under the Foreigners Act and the Disaster Management Act.
Bombay high court made a judgment Bombay HC said that foreigners in visa have right protected under article 25 and also right to life under article 21 and quashed the FIRs
Court quoted " A political government tries to find the scapegoat when there is pandemic or calamity and the circumstances show that there is the probability that these foreigners were chosen to make a scapegoat." 1
Even supreme court of India made the judgment on Tablighi jamaat “dissatisfied and disappointed” by the affidavit filed by the central government in a case related to the media reportage of members of the Tablighi Jamaat who were blamed for a surge in coronavirus cases, triggering a wave of violence and hate speech toward Muslims. Chief Justice of India SA Bovde said that the government is silent on the actions taken and the rights in regulating TV channels. If there is no regulatory mechanism that prepares it or we will hand it over to the outside agency. Regulation cannot be left with the NBA (News Broadcast Association). He also said that the Supreme Court is not satisfied with the affidavit submitted by the Central Government on this issue in the last few weeks. 2
The court verdict shows that secularism is just a legal view, not the moral one. The hatred that spread is that can be turned into a love for one another. Is the idea of secularism only alive in books? The article will end with the question is pandemic tested India's secularism if yes did we pass or failed? The answer is up to you.
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