|
Political Diary
New Delhi, 7 April
2020
Tablighi
Markaz Mayhem
A LONG
ROUGH ROAD AHEAD
By Poonam
I Kaushish
Beyond
Evolution. In Covid-19 times, words take on an extra meaning wherein one wonders
what’s beyond evolution. The virus? It’s ensuing crisis? Our response to it? Or
there is no cure so far? In catastrophic times science and facts act as
antidotes to fear and panic whereby medium is the message.
As India entered the 14th day of lockdown it was
caught in the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz mayhem last week in Delhi’s Nizammudin
area. From Delhi, its followers fanned out to other States
to recruit more people for the congregation. A rolling affair that went on for
days last month. Consequentially, over round 9000
Jamaat members and their primary contacts have been quarantined countrywide
with over 500 confirmed corona cases and 10 deaths.
Clearly,
it was a herculean task to flush out 2,000 Muslims including 1500 foreigners hiding in various mosques
across States. The Delhi police
have registered an FIR against Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad Khandalvi.
But the moot point is: How come such a large
gathering was allowed in the national Capital? Was the Centre late to react to
the developments? How did the Government fail to detect a corona virus
infection hotspot? Specially as a police station exists right next to the Banglewali Masjid Markaz in Nizamuddin. How
did the authorities miss the large gathering there?
Undeniably, the blame lies at the Central and
Delhi Government’s doorstep. Even as the Centre clarified the foreigners
came on tourist visas which does not allow them to conduct religious activities
and was a violation of visa rules, it is admission of its laxity. How did
hundreds of foreigners roam around the country conducting religious activities
without valid visas, that too during a pandemic?
The Delhi Government issued three public notices between
12-16 March which stated any person with Covid-19 symptoms who had visited an
affected country in the previous 14 days should report to officials and those
who did not have symptoms but had travel history to affected countries should
quarantine themselves at home. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia had all reported
cases by February first week, so was the Government unaware that foreigners from
these countries had entered the city in large numbers?
Besides, why was there a four-day delay by the Centre in
sharing details with States when Telangana reported its first corona positive
cases on 18 March? Think. Over 2,100 including 824 foreigners were touring
different parts of the country for missionary work and over 2000 were staying
in the Masjid, yet, it is inexplicable why they were not evacuated on March 21 and
screened for the virus. The Centre only evacuated and sanitized Nizamuddin on
March 29 but the damage was done.
Pertinently, Malaysia had identified a Tablighi Jamaat event
as a Covid-19 hotspot in early March. Was the Centre aware of the developments therein,
given the likelihood of followers who attended the Malaysian event coming to
India was high as the Jamaat is headquartered in Delhi? It is open knowledge
that hundreds gather at the Nizamuddin Masjid in March every year.
Predictably, it has unleashed a war of words with the BJP
accusing Jamaat of a terror attack and Corona Jihad while the NCP derides it as
“irresponsible” to cover up its mismanagement of containing the pandemic and
economy. Adding to the fracas Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s Maulana Madani says it is a
“concerted campaign to vilify the Muslim community. Hindus are turning the virus
into a communal issue. You can't fight one virus by spreading another virus.” Either
which way, the fact is the virus doesn’t differentiate between victims of
different faiths.
What is Tablighi Jamaat? It is a religious
group of preachers which focuses on urging Muslims to return to practising the
basic tenets of their faith and is headquarters at the
Banglewali Masjid Markaz in Nizamuddin. The idea
was floated by Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas in 1926 in then Mewat
province and is strong across the Indian sub-continent.
Unlike other Muslim Jamaats, the Tablighi works
only among Muslims and has millions of members in over 180countries. It’s preachers
operate from mosques who do ‘gasht’, go
around neighbourhoods, interact with Muslims, invite them to namaz and 'ijtema' or seminars at mosques. However, many feel Jamaat symbolizes
radical and regressive interpretation of Islam, and is surrounded by
controversies and criticism.
This
apart, another unperceived and unplanned fallout of the lockdown is lakhs of
migrant workers from Delhi, Bihar, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Kerala and Bengal are now stranded on roads and in camps across the country. Worse,
the authorities showed callousness and indifference wherein
the only official communication that labourers received were delivered by
police’s heavy-handedness and his lathi.
Unsurprisingly, the Congress came down like a
ton of bricks lambasting the Government for being heartless with the BJP
countering, ‘stop playing dirty politics’.
Certainly, the pandemic is going to impact everyone even if
they do not contract it and will leave behind a trail of political, economic,
social and psychological scars wherein everyone will pay a price.
Already there
is a screaming shortage of essentials across the
country and distribution networks are choked as States are clueless on
how to move things where it is required. Paradoxically,
India has more than enough food to feed her citizens as its buffer stock of
food grain is three times the mandatory requirement. Topped, by indications of
a bumper crop this season.
So how
does one get the tiger, goat and the bundle of grass across the river? Simply,
how to move food to everyone’s plates? It’s
a logistical dead-end that the Centre and State Governments are grappling with
as truckers cannot find drivers and workers to carry
and offload food items as they are harassed at inter and intra-State check posts.
Resulting, in the farmers unable to sell their produce and warehouses becoming
islands of isolation. Succinctly, a
distribution nightmare on a national scale.
Additionally,
there are signs of an ominous food crisis in rural areas. Most rural households
across States fear they might run out of food in a few days as family members
return home from cities. Retail outlets are
unable to refurbish their dwindling inventories. But, the Centre and State Governments
are confident of managing and resolving the distribution bottlenecks in a few
days. The proof of the pudding will come in the eating.
However
if and when the Centre’s decides to lift the lockdown it does not automatically
mean that the pandemic can be wished away. The Government has to ensure that
there is no ‘passive pandemic’ left undetected. It should draw an action plan
on what needs doing and how to do it, specially when the population begins to
hit the streets again.
Administratively
all responsibilities to extend or later revive local or localised shut-downs
would devolve on State Governments. Along-with the larger responsibilities of
monitoring existing and new patients, if any. The game is prevention. Tactical
actions are essential to break the chain and slow down the process of
contamination with a view to identify and isolate those who are infected.
New
Delhi will have to work backward to ensure that the national laxity does not
return with equal force. All tactical operations to flatten the curve to
prevent exponential spike. Today, any decision not to extend the lockdown, be
it by the Centre or by the States or both together, needs to be accompanied by
belated evaluation as to what it means at the tail-end population and the
tail-end Administration. Are we geared for rough times ahead? ---- INFA
(Copyright
India News & Feature Alliance)
|
Archives 
