Article 15 also says, “No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and palaces of public entertainment; or the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.”
However, in the shadow of the Coronavirus lockdown, hate speech, social and economic boycott of Muslims has gained speed and strength as various administrations have looked the other way. The anti-Muslim Communal virus 2020 has taken root and has already caused major damaged to India’s secular fabric. Here are a few instances that just show the tip of the Communal hate-wave now growing rapidly.
Ahmedabad Gujarat. Civil Hospital split COVID19 wards on faith
Civil hospital in Ahmedabad, which had earmarked 1,200 beds for COVID-19 patients, segregated its wards on the basis of religion, shocked everyone. Muslim patients were sent to one ward, and Hindus patients were sent to another.
Nagpur, Maharashtra: “These people are not like you and me”
Even as the Prime Minister himself remained silent on the communal hate being spread against Muslims in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, some from his party continue adding fuel to the fire. In Maharashtra, a BJP MLA Krushna Khopde ‘demanded’ that the Indian Army be deployed in Muslim Dominated Satranjipura , area in Nagpur. Krushna Khopde claimed that “a lot of coronavirus cases” had been reported from that area and the residents were “not cooperating with civic officials and police” towards the containment efforts.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: “You people have created this problem.”
Open taunts at a Muslim woman. Writer, activist Natasha Badhwar shared on Medium, and Facebook, how her sister-in-law was taunted by a gas cylinder delivery man, even though she asked about his well being. She felt empathy for him as work under the national Coronavirus lockdown is challenging, and asked in solidarity: “it must be harder than usual for you to get your work done in this atmosphere.” “What are you saying,” answers the delivery man, dismissing her expression of solidarity. “You people are the ones who have created this problem.”
Greater Noida, UP: “Is food being delivered by a Muslim?”
Human Rights group Karwan e Mohabbat are distributing food kits and meals to people stranded without work and means to feed themselves during this lockdown. While readying a food ration delivery, a team member was asked, “Is the person who is coming Hindu or Muslim?” The volunteer, who is also a human rights lawyer said it was not the time to think like this and why should it even matter? The volunteer told them that the rations will be delivered by a Muslim. The group of upper caste Hindu men refused to accept the free ration from a Muslim volunteer.
- Shastri Nagar, Delhi: “We will not let any Muslim enter our lanes”
A group of men residing in the middle class colony of Shastri Nagar, decided to as vendors their religion, warning the ones they suspected of being Muslims, against entering the colony “you will get beaten with sticks otherwise”. He proudly shares how he “caught” a vendor who called himself Misra, but “turned out to be Muhhamed Imran. “We beat him up and chased him away, ” he posted the hate video on Facebook and has also asked everyone else in the city to follow his violent example saying, “If he is a Musalmaan, chase them away.” Delhi Minorities Commission chairman, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan wrote a sternly worded letter to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, alerting him to this video.
Communal reportage by Rahul Kanwal: “Madrasa Hotpots: India Today Investigation”
Rahul Kanwal’s show was blatantly Islamophobic, communal and misinformed. The ‘sting operation’ carried out in Madrasa gave an impression that children were “kept hidden” and were at risk of contracting COVID-19. However, madrasas serve as hostels for poor, destitute and orphaned children. This important piece of information appears to have been conveniently skipped in the show. As part of its ongoing campaign against communal hate, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has sought accountability from India Today for running this hate campaign against minorities terming ‘madrasas’ as Covid-19 hotspots.
Buldhana, Maharashtra: Muslims face social boycott
Messages go viral on social media and whatsapp telling people to boycott the entire Muslim community because 16 members out 17 Covid19 cases belonged to the faith. People were urged not to buy from Muslim owned shops. Muslim shoppers were turned away. And according to a report in The Times Of India, medical attention was denied to, or delayed for Muslim patients. A doctor from Raipur village in the district was also booked for spreading hate messages.
Delhi Police on arresting spree even during COVID 19 lock down
Over 800 arrests have been reported from North-East Delhi so far. According to an Indian Express report the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a fresh directive to continue investigations in the wake of the Coronavuris lockdown.
North East Delhi, Pogrom survivors face Coronavirus insults
Many cases in North East Delhi where after the riots Hindu landlords turned Muslim tenants away. Muslim business were lost. Freelance beautician had recalled how she was asked not to go to Hindu clients’ homes. After the Coronavirus began spreading in the district, the discrimination againt the Muslim residents have only increased.
North West Delhi: Hindu Jats are telling the small Muslim minority in the two villages (Harewali and Qutubgarh) that from now on they must live according to Hindu customs, otherwise they will be thrown out of the villages.
In North West Delhi, Muslims asked to live like Hindus
Hindu Jats of the are have allegedly been telling the small Muslim minority in the two villages (Harewali and Qutubgarh) that from now on they must live according to Hindu customs, otherwise they will be thrown out of the villages
Delhi University
Various teachers of Delhi University posting virulent hate message against the Muslim community on their facebook page. The Delhi Minorities Commission had to take up the issue.
Delhi: “Muslims are not, or should not be, equal”
Senior BJP member and lawyer Subramanian Swamy in a video interview to Vice News has said things like, “They are not an equal category… Muslims are not, or should not be, equal is not an uncommon sentiment.”
Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh: Vegetable sellers face discrimination
Five vegetable sellers in Uttar Pradesh’s Mahoba district have submitted a written complaint to the authorities that they were abused and stopped from selling their goods by a group because they are Muslims. One of the vendors told NDTV that the group accused them of spreading coronavirus and said they were members of Tablighi Jamaat — the Islamic sect linked to hundreds of COVID-19 cases across the country. The sellers were abused, and asked to leave the village, they said. Some other people came and said ‘these people are Muslims don’t buy from them’,”
Rajasthan: Doctor refused to admit pregnant woman because she’s Muslim
Her baby child died soon after delivery. The government hospital in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur has come under the scanner for allegedly refusing admission to pregnant Muslim woman citing her religion leading to her child dying soon after the delivery reported India Today.
Arunachal Pradesh, Muslim Truckers Beaten Up
Kurung Kumey district Food and Civil Supply Officer Chukhu Jirjo said the Muslim ruckers, who unloaded rice at Koloriang, were beaten up by a group of men reported News18. The truckers led their vehicles behind and fled to neighbouring Assam, leaving their vehicles behind.
Bhangarh, Una district, Himachal Pradesh: Muslim commits suicide after he is targeted over COVID-19
After he returned from quarantine, 37-year-old Mohammad Dilshad, took his life by first slashing his wrists and then hanging himself to death in his home on April 5, reported The Quint. The villagers had called the police on him, and taunted him. Dilashad went to the hospital himself to get tested for Covid19. His reports were negative, but he had faced too much mental trauma in his own village, and ended his life.