Minorities commission asks Delhi health dept to drop mention of Tablighi Jamaat from its bulletins

The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) on Thursday wrote to the Delhi government’s health department to refrain from mentioning the Tablighi Jamaat and giving religious

The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) on Thursday wrote to the Delhi government’s health department to refrain from mentioning the Tablighi Jamaat and giving religious undertones to its daily bulletins on the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the city.

HT Image

The commission’s chairperson Zafarul-Islam Khan in a letter to the department said that the health bulletins being released by the government had a separate column under the category ‘Markaz Masjid’, which was being misused by some divisive elements as a “handle to attack the community”.

“This kind of categorisation by the government is not only unnecessary but is also leading to attacks on people from the community in various areas across the country and hence must be dropped. The government must give out only the number of cases. Any Muslim is now being taken as a Tablighi while calls are being made for their social boycott,” said Khan.

He said there had been incidents of a young man being beaten up in north-west Delhi and others wherein people had been attacked. “This is a crucial aspect, which must be kept in mind before releasing the bulletin,” he said.

The DMC letter said, “The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken cognisance of this phenomenon, unique to India. The organization’s emergency programme director Mike Ryan had on April 6 said that countries should not profile Covid-19 cases in terms of religion or any other criteria. Also, he asked governments not to politicise the issue and stop profiling people on a religious basis.”

However, a senior Delhi government official said they haven’t received the letter yet, but the categorisation is to prevent panic among people on the rise in the number of cases. “The reason the case count linked to the Tablighi Jamaat is given separately is to assure the public at large that the rise in the city’s total number of cases is attributable to the one event, which means they need not worry about community transmission.”