How COVID-19 Increases Violence Against Muslims In India

A man in Amritsar, India (Raghu Nayyar / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - In the middle of the grass on the side of the road, a young Indian is seen begging for forgiveness for his life. From the video that was widely circulated, it was seen that the young man's body was shaken. There was blood on his hands and head.

Several people attacked the man with the bushy beard. The wooden blocks were slammed towards the body of the young man who was seen wearing the red shirt.

Several people, who were seen being intimidating, then threatened to spill gasoline and burn him alive. They accused the young man of deliberately spreading the corona virus.

After being confirmed by News 18 India, according to the authorities, the person was identified as Mehboob Ali, a 22-year-old man.

When the incident occurred, he was on his way back to his hometown of Bawana, after attending the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Bhopal, India. He managed to escape from the crowd and was treated at a local hospital.

The attacks are part of a wave of violence against Indian Muslims in recent weeks. The members of India's religious minority, as reported by the NPR, have long faced increased discrimination, harassment and attacks, especially under Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist rule.

All attacks, discrimination, and harassment are carried out against Indian Muslims indiscriminately. They are said to have faced increased discrimination, harassment and attacks. The violence, according to observers, was triggered by misinformation and statements from the ruling party politicians.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis appears to have made matters even worse. Ali's Muslim-affiliated group Tablighi Jamaat has drawn criticism for holding a conference in early March in New Delhi. The conference went on to become one of the biggest hotspots for the virus to spread in India.

India's Ministry of Health said that around 30 percent of India's total COVID-19 cases were based on tracing of people attending the Tabhligi Jamaat conference. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people who came into contact with them have been quarantined.

On April 16, the Indian government accused one of the movement's leaders, Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi of murder. If proven wrong, he will be jailed for 10 years. While Kandhalvi was hiding, his spokesman Musharraf Ali Khan issued a video statement urging his followers to cooperate with the police.

"Cooperate with the police, who are trying to track you down. There is no need to hide or misbehave," he said.

The plea comes after numerous reports claiming their congregation is behaving badly. For example they reportedly spat on doctors at a quarantine facility in Delhi. Then at Uttar Pradeh, they allegedly made inappropriate speech and opened their pants in front of the female nurse, and some other negative news.

However, after being traced back, some reports of this kind turned out to be untrue. However, there is power, anger has erupted in the Indian public.

To make matters worse, an official from the Bharatiya Janata Party - PM Modi's party - suggested that members of the congregation should be shot. However, other officials certainly issued a warning about it.

One of the officials who became a "damper" for the situation was Chief Minister Karnataka. "Nobody needs to speak against Muslims," he said on a local TV channel quoted by the Indian Express. "If anyone blames the entire Muslim community for some separate incident, I will take action against them."

Then, on Sunday, after the Organization for Islamic Cooperation expressed deep concern over what he called "Islamophobia in political and media circles" in India, Modi posted a tweet calling for unity and brotherhood.

"COVID-19 does not see race, religion, color, caste, creed, language or border. In this case we are together," wrote Modi.

COVID-19 does not see race, religion, color, caste, creed, language or borders before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together: PM @narendramodi

- PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 19, 2020