Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, announced a nationwide lockdown on the 24 March. Confining 1.2bn people in their homes, millions of internal migrants were forced to walk hundreds of miles due to the closure of public transport. Many are thought to have died on the journey.
Facing an international outcry Modi apologised for the problems it caused, “particularly for the poor people,” in a monthly address. But in the last few days the narrative has shifted. India’s Muslims, of whom there are at least 200 million, are now facing a new wave of anti-Islamic rhetoric in the sub-continent.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for a response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in India to be “neither applied in a discriminatory manner nor exacerbate existing inequalities and vulnerabilities.” Despite this, a scapegoat has been made of a Muslim group known as Tablighi Jamaat.
In early March the group, which dates its origins back to 1926, held a large gathering in New Delhi. Although the meeting was held weeks before the nationwide lockdown was announced by Modi, some of the attendees remained in the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat afterwards and into the lockdown, claiming that they were unable to return home due to cancelled transport systems.
In early March the group, which dates its origins back to 1926, held a large gathering in New Delhi.
Authorities now say that six deaths can be traced back to those that attended the meeting. There is a fear that others will have carried the virus with them as they travelled home. But Tablighi Jamaat were not the only group of people to have gathered despite the lockdown. Thousands of migrant workers are now being housed in temporary accommodation throughout the country as they are unable to return home. Even the chief minister of state for North India attended a large gathering on the 25 March.
The hashtag #CoronaJihad has become popular with Twitter users as they shared memes and comments on the suspected spread on COVID-19 by Muslims.
Nevertheless, a social media campaign has begun to gain traction which denounces Muslims as being either careless or malicious. The hashtag #CoronaJihad has become popular with Twitter users as they shared memes and comments on the suspected spread on COVID-19 by Muslims.
Many of the tweets take a highly racialised tone. One user with over 46 thousand followers tweeted: “CCTV Footage shows This MuIIаh INTENTIONALLY coughed on Mans face!! Then he goes around touching stuff. Such VILЕ minded people… Stay away from these Сrееру people,” accompanied with poor-quality CCTV footage of a man appearing to cough in a relatively normal manner. The tweet received almost five thousand retweets and six thousand likes.
CCTV Footage shows This MuIIаh INTENTIONALLY coughed on Mans face!! Then he goes around touching stuff. Such VILЕ minded people?? Stay away from these Сrееру people #TJKMKB #TablighiJamatVirus #CoronaJihad #CoronavirusPandemic #COVID2019india pic.twitter.com/rFwsyrExeV
— Rosy (@rose_k01) April 3, 2020
Memes liken Muslims to malaria carrying mosquitoes. Other cartoons depict a Muslim as having swapped a suicide vest for a vest carrying strains of the COVID-19 virus. Throughout much of this misinformation there is a focus on Muslims spreading the virus as a means of political violence, saying that Muslims are intentionally coughing on people, for instance, in order to lower the Hindu population of India.
Comments such as these come in the context of a country which has seen widespread anti-Muslim policies and violence in recent months. The Delhi riots drew wide-ranging media coverage and illustrate a propensity to violence on the far-right of Indian politics, including supporters of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Memes liken Muslims to malaria carrying mosquitoes. Other cartoons depict a Muslim as having swapped a suicide vest for a vest carrying strains of the COVID-19 virus.
The riots earlier this year killed more than fifty people, most of whom were Muslims. It is widely reported that police and politicians enabled the violence through a lack of action. The representation of Muslim police officers in New Delhi, which has an overall Muslim population of 13 percent, is only 2 percent. Many of those killed were beaten to death or shot.
Riots and protest began in response to Modi’s recent Citizen (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which provides expedited citizenship to any citizen from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. However, if they are Muslim then they are not included in this Bill. This sparked protests, mainly by Muslims, who saw this as a step towards a national register of Indian citizens.
Milan Vaishnav, Director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Piece, told Vox that this register would put Muslims without documents in a very difficult position. Vaishnav said that “you can imagine a scenario where both Hindus and Muslims can’t prove their citizenship. But Hindus will be given a kind of lifeline through this Citizen Amendment Act.”
The riots occurred at the same time as a visit to India by President Trump. Speaking during a rally held at a cricket stadium, Trump said that the US and India were joined together in a fight against “radical Islamic terrorism.” Asked by a reporter to comment on the violence against Muslims, Trump refused.
If the Hindu nationalists can persuade large swathes of the Indian population that Muslims intentionally spread the virus to diminish the Hindu population it could lead to greater support for a national register.
The Citizen Amendment Act, recent riots and now the scapegoating of Muslims for spreading COVID-19 is cause for alarm. If the Hindu nationalists can persuade large swathes of the Indian population that Muslims intentionally spread the virus to diminish the Hindu population it could lead to greater support for a national register.
What does this mean for Muslim’s living in India after the COVID-19 outbreak? There is already great concern that Indians will be stigmatized if they are known to have contracted the virus. The UN has criticised the government for stamping the hands of those in quarantine and erecting notices outside of their houses. Such actions, when coupled with the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, could lead to extreme social exclusion and more violence.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Al Bawaba news.
