Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday night took to Twitter to talk about the Tablighi Jamaat event that took place in Delhi last month. Naqvi said that while Tablighi Jamaat members had "committed sin", it was wrong to consider "every Indian Muslim as Tablighi".
Calling it a case of “chori aur seena zori", the Union Minister said that the same Tablighi members who had commited a sin and spread the novel coronavirus through their “criminal conduct” were now claiming that they were “corona warriors”.
“Instead of being ashamed of their crime, Tablighi are insulting lakhs of coronavirus warriors,” Naqvi tweeted.
In a follow-up tweet he added that the collective branding of all Muslim individuals under one subset was a "well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy"
“Of course, some patriotic Indian Muslims have donated plasma to the needy but it’s not correct to call all of them Tablighi. There is a "well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy" to prove every Indian Muslim as Tablighi,” he wrote.
The Tablighi Jamaat event took place in Delhi at the end of March. While happening prior to the pan-India lockdown, this went against government directives that had urged people to stay home and maintain social distancing norms.
Soon after, as those who had participated in the event scattered across the country, there was a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases in India. While it must be emphasised that this was not the only religious event in the recent past that has seen a large number of people gather together, many of the Tablighi Jamaat conference attendees have tested positive. Additionally, their travel to other parts of India have also spread the virus to other areas.
As per an April 18 press briefing by the Ministry of Health, 4,291 cases in the country could be linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster. This was when the total number of cases in India was at 14,378.
As of Monday afternoon, India has recorded 29435 positive cases. 934 people have died, while 6868 people have been cured and discharged.