New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked Tablighi Jamaat for organzing religious gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area for two weeks defying government restrictions and guidelines amid the outbreak of novel coronavirus across the world.
Naqvi equated the event to a Talibani crime. “It is a Talibani crime by Tablighi Jamaat, such criminal act cannot be forgiven. They have put the lives of many people in danger,” ANI quoted the Union minister as saying. He said that strict action should be taken against such people and organisations that defy government directions.
“It is nothing but a criminal act by the group–they have put every one’s lives at risk,” he said.
“When Saudi Arabia has stopped pilgrims from visiting the Ka’aba, Islam’s holiest site, and mosques had closed their doors asking the faithful to pray at home, the group should have called off all its community congregations and dispersed all its members.”
The minister said he had asked Muslim religious leaders to appeal to the people to strictly adhere to lockdown conditions to control the virus. “This is a wrong message they sent. This was the time to stand united in the fight against a medical emergency, not put faith above rules,” the minister said. “This is not negligence. Because of them, an already stressed medical system is being over burdened.”
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The Tablighi Jamaat said that all its international members had arrived at the Markaz before the lockdown was announced and that on March 24.