Uzair Ahmed Khan
Oldies in town have no parallels to draw. Such times of lockdown have no equal in their remembrances, they say. Stressing their minds to the times during the Second World War may sure bring alike instances, but if our age has even them gripped to their smart phones, why would they seek an exchange of WhatsApp enlightenment, even if fake, for mind stressors?
The younger ones aren’t any different, either. An idle mind, lack of job, uneasy domestication, dwindling economy and a bleak future is what they stare at. Can there be a way out? Those in power better have answers and if not, they ought to create questions. And to have 133 Crore minds engaged and diverted, what better a way than to entangle them in questions of hatred and enmity? Here comes the tried and tested Communalism, perhaps through the channel of Electronic and Social media.
World over, numerous places have emerged as triggers for the spread of Covid-19. And for a virus that needed social contact, religious congregations were most prone, amongst others. A Church in South Korea, a Hindu gathering in UK, Muslim congregations of Tableeghi Jamat in Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. However what wasn’t witnessed in any country was such gathering being made a scapegoat for the crisis of Covid-19. In India, however, Corona had a stronger counterpart to dominate – The Virus of Hate.
The Tableeghi Jamat’s congregation in Delhi was planned to happen long before. It sure was reckless and let down the Muslim community but its spokespersons have quite many defenses for their innocence viz. absence of any call by the government authorities to suspend religious activities or congregations, the Prime Minister asking people to stay in their respective places and a written request made by the Jamat to the local police intimating their helplessness. But throwing all such defense to bin, either on instructions from those in power or for viewership, the News Media was at a task, that it has mastered over the years – spewing hatred and vilifying communities. Such was the hate mongering in the Electronic Media that Muslims were socially boycotted in few places, barred entry in hospitals, physically attacked and communally blamed for all Corona Cases in India. The Government did issue statements against the same but it hardly made any efforts to rein in its media/social media cells from not doing the same.
Few are still busy celebrating Govt.’s Diplomacy for WHO’s grant of $ 1 Billion and ABD’s promise of $ 2.2 Billion to India to tackle the epidemic. Well, if that was to celebrate, African Nations would have chosen to be diplomatic rather poor and would have had received many more of such packages. There isn’t dearth of such realism, though. In a country that gushes to streets, banging plates and spoons amidst pleas for social distancing and a people who think of evading the curse of virus through significance of lucky number 9 or by lighting candles, there is huge and untapped potential for much more, if need be.
Elsewhere, Covid-19 is steady on its path of conquering one milestone after other, with more than a lakh casualties already conquered, at the time of this article. More than three hundred have succumbed in India where numbers may only swell with passing time.
But the damage of the virus isn’t limited to the deaths alone. The world has been choked in a manner never witnessed before. Countries are scrambling for medications, masks, ventilators, testing kits and are employing them to use to arrest the damage and prevent its further spread. The first case of India was reported on 30/1/2020 and kept increasing in single digits until 4/3/2020 when the capital witnessed a sudden spike with 22 cases.
However, the limelight on the virus came when a noted singer tested positive for the virus and who had the night before, attended a close knit party with high profile figures including eminent members of ruling party. It is interesting that no one pointed out the singer in question, or the group of 22 patients in Delhi to be the cause of virus in India. The blame apparently, was reserved for a program conducted by a Muslim Organisation, in mid March.
Tableeghi Jamat without any basis was affiliated to Al Qaeeda and Muslims were declared to have resorted to Corona Jihad. In religion obsessed India, such congregations and yatras were carried out by all other religions. Chief Ministers of various states were seen attending poojas, parties and social gatherings. But the selective case of Tableeghi Congregation in Delhi was all that was needed by the News Media and the Social Media to fan the flames of hatred, passionately.
The News Debates, their obnoxious anchors, planted panelists and we, the gullible yet willful watchers, seem ingredients of what feels to be like a giant cauldron about to engulf in fire. The writing on the wall was made clear – Muslims are the ones causing the spread of Covid. The Clerics in Muslim community were no different. By not apologizing for their recklessness or voluntarily testing themselves for the virus, mudslinging was what was resorted to.
Meanwhile there were more important battles being fought on the terrains of social media. The Facebook knights and Twitter warriors were leaving no tactic unused to generate hatred and fury. The moment one signs in, smoke can be seen billowing and smell of death can be felt all around.
A few Steps to resort by every responsible Indian in such times :
- Verify and cross check information on social media before being a reason for making it viral
- Taking charge of our respective Whatsapp groups and making aware the fellow members of the quantum of fake information being circulated.
- Battle the negative content by generating positive and brotherly content.
- Shunning dubious political and religious leaders who are good only with Communalism
- Reporting of hate posts to Facebook and Twitter.
- Lodging Police Complaints against individuals/groups for spread of communal propaganda and enmity
- Public Interest Litigation against the Media channels and social media platforms seeking penalization.
On paper, juxtaposed with other countries, India has done well, until now, to arrest the spread of Covid-19. But the worry that should bother every Indian is concerning the Virus of hate. India can get rid of Corona eventually but the same could not be said for the virus of hate. Until Vaccines arrive, precautions have been taken to control the spread of Corona and the virus of hate cannot be approached any different. Historically speaking, it is only mayhem and civil war that hatred between communities has led to. It is time the sane minds emerge, cutting across communities and take on themselves to make amends before this virus spirals beyond control.