Three children were burnt alive in a village in Sindh, Pakistan on Sunday. The incident occurred at Shakil Mahar village near Dad Leghari in district Ghotki of Sindh. The bodies of the children have been completely charred and the Police said they could not be identified. The fire engulfed five houses, it is being reported. All the goods and valuables in them have been turned into ashes.
The cause of the fire could not be determined immediately, however, it is being reported that the fire broke out when a stove in one of the houses malfunctioned. But not everyone is buying it. Rahat Austin, a lawyer and an activist, claimed that the houses were set on fire and according to him, a woman was also severely burnt as a consequence. His tweet, which we are not embedding here due to extremely graphic content, can be seen here.
According to Austin, Bari Khan Patafi, an MP from the Pakistan Peoples Party, visited the place but no action has been taken thus far. “We appreciate that step sir but please address the real issue. Beating around Bush is of no use,” he said. Austin said that another incident of arson had occurred at Umeed Ali Rindh village, tehsil Chhachhado, in Tharparker, Sindh. Seven houses are said to have been burnt in that incident.
Non-Muslims in Pakistan and Hindus especially are persecuted greatly by the Muslims of the country. Women are raped at an alarming frequency, forcibly converted to Islam and life is made hell for them. To help the non-Muslims of the country, the Indian Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act which reduces the residential requirement for naturalization from 11 to 5 years.
Ace cricketer Zaheer Khan found himself at the receiving end of hate when assorted Islamists attacked him for heeding Prime Minister Modi’s call for lighting a Diya on April 5, 2020, in solidarity with the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus.
Akin to millions of Indians who followed PM Modi’s request to light a lamp or torch for 9 minutes starting 9 PM on April 5, 2020, cricketer Zaheer Khan too lighted a lamp and posted the photo of the same on his official Instagram page.
Zaheer Khan’s official Instagram page
However, Khan’s gesture did not sit well with some of his rabid co-religionists who were prompt in slamming him for being a “Modi Bhakt” and not standing with the Markaz attendees who are responsible for about 30 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the country.
One Instagram user Saquib Tanzil asked Zaheer why is he not supporting the Markaz. Another user, Md Taslim Anjum, derided Khan as a ‘Modi Bhakt’ for his noble act of encouraging the healthcare workers and uplifting the country’s morale by lighting a lamp. “Sad, one more Muslim person is Modi bhakt. Waah Modiji Waah, ek aur Muslim pe jaadu lar diye,” he wrote.
Zaheer Khan’s Instagram feed.
One Musheer Ahmed, who seemed inordinately discontented with PM Modi denigrated Khan for lighting the lamp. He bewailed that Khan would even consume “cow dung” if PM Modi asked him to do so, while admonishing him if he had lost his marbles for heeding PM Modi’s call to express gratefulness for the doctors, healthcare professionals and others who are tirelessly working and putting up a brave fight to ward off the threat of coronavirus.
It appears that fanatic Islamists on social media were thoroughly rattled by Muslim superstars who chose to follow PM Modi’s request of lighting a lamp or torch at their respective balconies as a mark of respect and show their solidarity in the fight against COVID-19. Earlier yesterday, another Muslim cricketer Mohammad Kaif received a barrage of criticism from the Islamists on his Twitter timeline after he posted a video of his family lighting a lamp to express his gratitude for all the doctors, medical staff, sanitation workers, govt. employees, police and army personnel, media personnel, bankers, essentials’ shopkeepers and all other warriors fighting COVID-19.
Scores of zealous Islamists descended on his Twitter and Instagram page, expressing vehement protest and abusing the former cricketer for coming out in support of PM Modi’s initiative. Many suggested that he must offer namaz instead to fight coronavirus. That he was ‘fooled’ to celebrate and light a lamp ahead of BJP’s foundation day. Others expressed disappointment that Kaif too had turned out to be a ‘Modi Bhakt’. The hatred continued on his Instagram page as well where he uploaded the same video he had on Twitter.
This is not the first time that radical Islamists have targeted Zaheer Khan for sharing photos that did not conform to their blinkered worldview. In October 2019, Khan was abused incessantly across various social media platforms for sharing a picture with his wife actress Sagarika Ghatge and wishing happy Diwali to everyone. Attacking Khan, several fundamentalists asked what face will he show to Allah if he celebrates Diwali like this.
The Stranded in India portal that was launched by the Ministry of Tourism on March 31 has seen registration of 769 foreign tourists who are stranded in different parts of India, owing to the nationwide lockdown imposed on the wake of Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak.
769 foreign tourists from all over the country register on ‘Stranded in India’ portal in first five days.Assistance in various forms being rendered to those requesting for help through the portal: Ministry of Tourism #COVID19pic.twitter.com/AcfwIZ5Ez2
According to the official release, every State government and Union Territory Administration has identified Nodal Officers for assisting such foreign tourists. The Ministry of Tourism has been coordinating with the Nodal Officers regarding the requests by the foreign tourists for facilitating ground support. It also clarified that the requests for transfer between states or to home countries by the foreigners will be coordinated with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and the respective Embassy.
The Stranded in India portal can be accessed through the Incredible India website and will provide factually correct information to foreign tourists to ease their fears and confusion. The portal will also enable smooth evacuation of stranded tourists with the help of their respective governments.
The Tourism Ministry assured, “The world is facing an unprecedented situation. We are with you in these difficult times. If you are a foreign traveller stranded anywhere in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can help you get in touch with the concerned authorities.”
Earlier, the Government of India had suspended all tourist visas and e-visas granted on or before March 11. All incoming visitors including Indian nationals were advised against non-essential travel because of the Coronavirus pandemic. “All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/international organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020,” it had said in the statement.
The order came into effect from 1200 GMT on Friday, March 13. Visas of all foreigners already in India remained valid and they were asked to contact the nearest FRRO/FRO through the e-FRRO module for extension/conversion etc of their visa or grant of any consular service if they chose to do so.
The Coronavirus pandemic has turned everyone’s world upside-down. Other than being a pandemic and the obvious ramifications that come with the world grappling with millions affected and thousands dead, what the pandemic has revealed, however, are the hits and misses of our system of governance. Essentially, in a country of 1.3 Billion people, controlling a pandemic like this can be a near impossibility at worst, a nightmare at best. Amidst the chaos, the central government showed remarkable alacrity in its quest to control the virus. The sheer resilience of the medical workers, essential services personnel and the police force, that India often likes to criticise, rose to the occasion. In fact, until the Tablighi Jamaat case blew up, it almost seemed like India was fighting the pandemic with far more ease than the other countries. Even after the Tablighi Jamaat cases exploded, the decisiveness with which the central government and the state governments have acted in tracking, quarantining and testing, gives one immense hope.
However, in such dark times, while the collective mettle of a nation is tested, it is the gravity of leaders that is tested the most. In this regard, judging by the praise being showered, one state and one leader has emerged victorious.
Praise showered upon Uddhav Thackeray, the CM of Maharashtra
From actors to neutral journalists, if one reads their tweets, it would appear that Maharashtra has come out ahead of the curve and contained the Coronavirus threat, or at least, it is doing a remarkable job at it.
Now, mostly, dealing with an unprecedented pandemic of this proportion there are bound to be hits and misses. It would be foolish to imagine or to expect that any government world over would make no mistakes and deal with the pandemic with perfection. However, the mistakes become even more glaring when a marketing campaign is unleashed to project a state that stands at the cusp of a downward spiral as one that is managing the pandemic the best.
The Tablighi Jamaat fiasco and Maharashtra’s under-reporting, shielding and dog-whistling
The Coronavirus positive cases in India reached 4067 with most number of cases being reported from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, in that order. Maharashtra reported 690 cases with 45 deaths, Tamil Nadu reported 571 cases with 5 deaths and Delhi reported 503 cases with 7 deaths.
State-wise Coronavirus cases in India (source: MoHFW)
It is pertinent to note that Maharashtra has reported the most number of cases (690) and most number of deaths (45) as compared to any other state in India. Till this moment, that amounts to Maharashtra contributing almost 17% of the total cases in India and 41% deaths due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
While Maharashtra cases according to the Central Ministry website stands at 690, according to the Media Bulletin released by the Maharashtra government, the total cases have increased to 748 as on 5th April.
The obvious reaction to these statistics is to wonder if the Tablighi Jamaat cases contributed to the cases in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi ballooning to this level.
Until the 4th April, when the cases in Maharashtra were at the 490 level, there were only 7 cases related to Tablighi Jamaat reported.
Cases of Tablighi Jamaat state-wise until April 4th
As one can see, till the 4th of April, while Maharashtra reported 7 out of 490 to be Tablighi Jamaat related, the other two states, Delhi and Tamil Nadu reported 301 out of 445 and 364 out of 411 respectively.
Since then, news has surfaced that over 1300 people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi are present in Maharashtra. It is unimaginable, that with such numbers and the number of cases in Maharashtra going from 490 to 690 (781 according to media reports) since April 4th and 1300 Tablighi Jamaat members present in Maharashtra, the cases of Coronavirus linked to the Jamaat would be low.
So why is the Maharashtra government tight-lipped on the number of cases related to Tablighi Jamaat and why is there no authentic report from the state government as to how many cases related to the Nizamuddin event have come to the fore in Maharashtra?
It was on the 4th of April itself that Uddhav Thackeray had announced that all cases linked to Tablighi Jamaat have been identified and traced. He also claimed that they have been isolated and quarantined. If one would take Uddhav Thackeray on face value, then the surge of case in Maharashtra since April 4th (of 200 cases) would make little sense.
Tweet by Maharashtra CMO on April 4th
However, doubts are raised when one realises that just a day before, on 3rd April, the Maharashtra Health Department had said that 1033 people out of the 1225 Tablighi attendees had been located.
1225 People,who returned from Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi have been identified,1033 have been located. 738 people quarantined&out of them 7 have tested positive for #Coronavirus till now-2 each from Pune , Ahmednagar&Pimpari Chinchwad and 1 from Sangli: Maharashtra Health Dept https://t.co/4zIEd0pXnV
Unless the Government of Maharashtra tracked and quarantined 200 people in a span of one day, there seems to be a dichotomy in the statements coming out of Maharashtra.
For a moment, even if we do assume that Maharashtra did track and quarantine 200 people in a single day and thus, all those who attended the Tablighi event were contained, in a strange update, Mumbai police tweeted today, on the 6th of April, urging those who attended the Tablighi event to come forward and call on the helpline Maharashtra had launched.
We request all attendees of Tablighi Markaz at Nizamuddin, New Delhi to report their travel details on @mybmc helpline 1916 & help us in our fight against this pandemic. Those failing to cooperate will face strict action under IPC, DM Act & Epidemic Act.#TakingOnCorona
There are certain question that can be raised from the dichotomy in statements by the Maharashtra government:
Did the Maharashtra government lie when it said all Tablighi attendees have been traced?
Is Maharashtra hiding details of the cases related to Tablighi Jamaat
Is there overall under-reporting in Maharashtra.
While the pandemic has taken mammoth proportions in the state, the Maharashtra government has single-mindedly focused more on “secularism”, or the false notion of it, at least, than actually fighting the pandemic. And this statement is corroborated by the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s own rants.
On the 4th of April, when the positive Tablighi Jamaat cases were reportedly only 7 out of 490 (which is 0.014%), the Chief Minister of Maharashtra tweeted, telling people to desist from spreading “communalism”.
Tweets by CMO
The tweet by CMO Maharashtra was craftily written. On first reading, one thinks that the CMO is slamming those who shared videos where Muslims were seen contaminating objects like current notes deliberately to spread the virus to “Kafirs”. However, once the tweets are called out, the CMO will also have an out to claim that the tweet was about Uddhav Thackeray saying that anyone spreading communalism could pertain to the Muslim man invoking Allah and trying to spread the virus to Kafirs itself was the ‘communalism’ being spoken about.
This tweet got unprecedented praise from the usual “secular” folks who think that calling out Tablighi Jamaat and several Muslims for their blatant hate for “Kafirs” and criminal irresponsibility in endangering lives is far more “serious” than them actually endangering lives.
Essentially, by clubbing the “videos like commodities or notes being smeared with saliva” with “fake news”, Uddhav Thackeray essentially sounded a dog-whistle to secularism where he tacitly marked the video as ‘fake’ and those sharing the video to raise awareness as ‘communal’. In reality, Nashik Rural Police had tweeted arresting the Muslim man who had smeared the note with his saliva to infect “Kafirs”.
Essentially, there are various aspects here related to the Tablighi Jamaat fiasco as far as Maharashtra is concerned:
There were several dichotomous statements that were released earlier regarding the tracking and quarantining of Tablighi Jamaat members till the 4th. Later, the Maharashtra government appealed for attendees to come forward. The Maharashtra government must answer if it under-reporting the cases related to Tablighi Jamaat because either they failed to track them effectively, or because after their posturing about how they cancelled the Tablighi Jamaat event and thus, saved the state from the pandemic, they cannot admit that they failed.
Till the 5th of April, only 12 cases were reportedly related to Tablighi Jamaat. 7 were attendees and 5 were their contacts. If Maharashtra is not underreporting, then what explains the spread of the virus where the cases have now ballooned to almost 800? And if Maharashtra really is mismanaging the pandemic, how is the PR helping?
Why is the Maharashtra government not releasing the data of the number of Tablighi cases that have emerged since the 4th of April?
Since the Government of Maharashtra is so concerned about “secularism”, is the under-reporting of cases so as to ensure that the sentiments of the Muslim community not hurt? It is pertinent to note that the Maharashtra government did meet the representatives of Tablighi Jamaat today saying that they will ensure that “communalism is kept in check”.
Evidence of mismanagement of Coronavirus pandemic emerges from Maharashtra
There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the cases in Maharashtra may be under-reported, especially, due to the sheer incompetence of the Maharashtra government.
A video that went viral suggested that a family of 10 who was infected with Coronavirus were not even quarantined or tracked by the government. In fact, another death of suspected Coronavirus was not even reflected in the government data and the government simply turned away till prodded.
Another viral video highlights the pace at which @mybmc and @CMOMaharashtra is working.
A covid19 positive death, which happened last night in E Award – #Mumbai, but family/neighbours were not aware of the reason as BMC didn’t take necessary steps. pic.twitter.com/intrgcVwa6
This is what Mumbai Mirror reported regarding the case of Coronavirus positive cases of the family of 10.
News via Mumbai Mirror
It was said that despite 10 positive cases, the BMC did not bother to set up a containment zone and that has endangered several people.
It is perhaps this irresponsibility that the number of hotspots in Maharashtra increased from 4 to 8 overnight. Worli G South ward has 68 patients. E, H East, P North, M West wards are the new hotspots.
There is, of course, no confirmation how many of these cases are due to Tablighi Jamaat cases or other cases because the Maharashtra government has refused to release that data. What is obvious, however, is that the Maharashtra government is not doing a very good job of containing the spread.
Interestingly, the majority of positive cases that have emerged from Maharashtra have been from the capital city of Mumbai. According to the press release by the govt, Mumbai accounted for 458 total cases and 35 deaths.
If we assume that the Maharashtra government has not under-reported the cases of Tablighi Jamaat to preserve ‘secularism’, one has to ask what the government is doing (or failing to do) to become the state with the most positive cases in the country.
The explanation that the size of the population is vast is one that will not hold water. Uttar Pradesh is far larger and is the most populous state of India, however, they have managed to limit their cases largely. According to the Ministry website, UP has reported 227 cases with 2 deaths so far.
Delhi, which was hauled through the coals for allowing the Tablighi event to take place, and rightly so, has reported most cases from the Tablighi event itself which does not seem to be the case with Maharashtra. In fact, CM Kejriwal was questioned by giving the example of CM Uddhav Thackeray saying that if he could disallow the Tablighi event, why did Delhi not follow suit. While that criticism is completely valid, in terms of the numbers, Delhi seems to be handling the pandemic far better than Maharashtra. In fact, every state seems to be handling it far better than Maharashtra.
In such a scenario, empty PR stunts would not help as much as an honest evaluation of what is going wrong in Maharashtra. The truth must prevail not only for the sake of lives but also because the misreporting from one state could adversely impact the reporting overall of the Coronavirus pandemic in India. While there are several things that the Maharashtra government has done right, for example, its outreach program to keep its people calm, there are several issues that have clearly come to the fore as well. The need of the hour is to transparently report and discuss what is going wrong rather than getting celebrities to whitewash the image in the face of a pandemic.
A video has gone viral on social media where a man can be seen abusing a woman who has been identified as a doctor. The man, who is the doctor’s neighbour, allegedly misbehaved with her and called her names as he tried to physically attack her.
सूरत के सिविल अस्पताल की महिला डोक्टर ने पड़ोसियों पर लगाया बदसलूकी का आरोप।
अस्पताल में रहने के चलते महिला डॉक्टर #कोरोना संक्रमित तो नही ऐसे सवाल करके बदसलूकी करने का महिला डोक्टर का आरोप।
In the video, a man in pink t-shirt can be heard hurling abuses to the lady and questioning her “so what if you are a doctor?” At one point he even lunges at her and tries to throw away the phone on which she seems to be recording the incident.
However, the reports are now coming which say that the altercation started over the doctor’s pet dog that attacked the neighbour. The man in the pink t-shirt is identified as one Chetan Mehta and the doctor is one Dr Sanjivani Panigrahi. According to the neighbours, on Sunday evening when Mehta’s wife was stepping out, Dr Sanjivani’s pet dog started barking at her and attacked her. Mehta’s wife then started fighting with the neighbour and soon Chetan also joined in. At this point, the doctor video recorded the entire incident and informed the MLA about it. Following this, Adajan Police rushed to spot and arrested Mehta.
Mehta’s wife has alleged that the arguments which started over pet dog were taken all the way to coronavirus. As per the report, Mehta had earlier questioned Dr Sanjivani over her contacting the Chinese virus as she is a doctor at civil hospital. On 25th March, the two neighbours had a fight over this. On Sunday, when Dr Sanjivani’s pet dog attacked Mehta’s wife, Mehta came to her rescue following which the pet dog went back inside the house. Mehta’s wife has alleged that Dr Sanjivani dragged the matter to coronavirus in the viral video.
Chetan Mehta’s wife has accused that the doctor shot the video and made it viral to defame her husband.
Even as the entire country diligently followed PM Modi’s directive of observing complete lockdown to tame the Wuhan coronavirus, there were some who continued to operate unabatedly, in flagrant violation of the nationwide lockdown restrictions. Powerlooms in the Maharashtrian town of Malegaon carried on its operations unhampered amidst the coronavirus lockdown in the country, said a report broadcasted on ABP Majha.
As per the report, despite the nationwide lockdown called upon by PM Modi, power-looms in Ramzanpura neighbourhood of Malegaon operated unhindered. When police officials reached a functioning power-loom in Ramzanpura, the gates and windows were closed but the continuous rumbling of the machines inside the power-loom made the officials suspicious that something is going on in the midst of curfew in the town. When enquired, police found that the power-loom was operational with more than 10 employees present at the facility.
In addition, the police officials also found that a restaurant adjoining the power-loom was also operating covertly and meals were being prepared for the employees working at the facility. When the police officials accosted the workers and questioned about the functioning of power-loom amidst curfew, the workers claimed that the power-loom had remained operational daily for 3 hours from 9AM to 12PM.
However, the report says that the duty-bound police officials who went to the power-loom to act against the workers are now facing the wrath of the administration for taking action against the employees and the power-looms that breached the lockdown restrictions and continued running their operations. It is now alleged that the action against the police officials is initiated at the behest of Malegaon MLA Mufti Mohammad Ismail of NCP who is known to have close relations with the power-looms owner.
An incident of stone-pelting has been reported from the Jhunjhunu District in Rajasthan on the 5th of April when people were lighting diyas and candles across the country honouring the Prime Minister’s call for a demonstration of social solidarity. As per reports, people were attacked when they were lighting diyas and candles at the local temple by those from a different community. Some people have reportedly been injured. Police had to reach the spot quickly in order to bring the situation under control.
#Breaking | People lighting candles pelted with stones in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district.
The matter soon escalated into a communal flare-up and both parties started pelting stones at each other. However, the Police reached the place before things could deteriorate any further. An investigation is currently underway into the whole incident. One person has been arrested by the Police in connection with the matter.
On Sunday night at 9 PM, Indians came out on their roofs and balconies and lit up lamps, torches and candles to show solidarity in this fight against Chinese coronavirus. While the lighting of lamps may not scare away coronavirus, it did give billions of Indians a hope that we will sail through.
On April 4, the Stanley Hospital in Tamil Nadu came under the scanner after the swab test result of a 70-year-old man who died on April 2 was found positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus. The patient was a resident of Chennai and had recently travelled to Dubai. He died within 2 hours after he was admitted to the government hospital.
As per a report in the New Indian Express, the family members said that the authorities kept them uninformed about the likelihood of the patient dying due to the pandemic. As such, no precautionary measures were taken. 101 people who had attended the funeral, including family members, have now been kept under home quarantine in Ramanathapuram.
The family took the body of the deceased via an ambulance to Keelakarai in Ramanathapuram on the same night of his death. His body was buried the following day around 10 am. A family member claimed, “At the hospital, we were neither informed that he was a suspected COVID-19 patient nor that his samples were drawn for testing.
The body was handed over to us wrapped in a green-colored cloth.” When the test results returned positive on Saturday, it was only then that the hospital authorities informed the family. The area around the house has now been disinfected and sealed.
“The man came very late and was in the hospital for only two hours. In that time the doctors did everything they could. Samples were also taken and sent for testing. After coming from Dubai he was under home quarantine. Following necessary guidelines, the body was handed over after packaging”, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh was quoted as saying in Chennai.
Hospital authorities also denied any wrongdoing on their part. A senior doctor said that the patient’s family was asked to follow protocol. The hospital management said the samples were received on Saturday night and refuted claims of delay.
it is reported that Ramanathapuram MLA M Manikandan had also visited the deceased and has been put under quarantine.
Earlier, the Archdiocese of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias had appealed to his followers to cremate the bodies of those who have died of Coronavirus. Calling upon the clergy of all the churches in Mumbai, the cardinal has asked them to follow their instructions issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) and the burn the dead bodies of Christians who died of Coronavirus.
As per a WHO report, the burial of coronavirus patients poses the risk of a further outbreak of the disease but the cremation doesn’t hold any such risks. The report said that when the body is burnt in an electric machine, its temperature is around 700– 1000 ° C. This causes the virus to die and there is no risk of it spreading. However, the WHO says that if a dead body of a coronavirus victim is buried, the risk of its spread aggravates. The WHO report states that if such a body is buried in the ground, then care should be taken that there is no water source within 30 meters of the burial site.
About 40 doctors of a distinguished medical college were quarantined after a trauma patient they performed an emergency surgery upon turned out positive for the Wuhan coronavirus on Saturday night. According to a report published in the Times of India, the patient had deliberately hidden his travel history at the time of his admission and it was later discovered that he had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Markaz Nizamuddin, New Delhi.
An autorickshaw driver from Khadki, the patient had met with the accident and suffered internal bleeding when he was taken to the hospital on March 31. Two days later, when his body temperature started soaring dangerously, the doctors questioned his mother, who confessed that his son had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi.
As per a hospital official, the patient’s family members had initially claimed that he had no travel history. A team of doctors, along with nurses, had performed an emergency surgery involving resection of the part of his injured intestine. However, when the patient developed fever a couple of days later, the hospital staff became suspicious and enquired his mother about his travel history. It was then that the patient’s mother admitted that her son had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat meet organised in Markaz Nizamuddin, New Delhi. The patient’s throat swab sample was then sent for test on Friday and the report which came a day later said the patient has tested positive for COVID-19.
Soon after the patient being positive for novel coronavirus came in, the patient was shifted to YCM hospital in Pimpri. The throat swab samples of 40 surgeons and resident doctors who had come in contact with him were sent to the National Institute of Virology. The doctors have been placed in quarantine in separate rooms on one of the hospital’s floors, said a senior official of hospital-cum-college.
Besides 40 doctors, 30 other hospital employees, including nurses, attendants and cleaning staff members, who are believed to have been exposed to the patient were also quarantined. Their throat swab samples have also been sent for testing.
There seems to be no end to the wrath unleashed by the Tablighi Jamaat miscreants who attended the Markaz Nizamuddin congregation in New Delhi. They have acted as the vector of the deadly contagion, spreading the infection as far as Assam, Tripura in the far east to Tamil Nadu in the south. The Jamaat errants have also been unforthcoming and deceitful in revealing their travel history, thereby exposing the unsuspecting people around them to the threat of COVID-19, that has so far affected 1.2 million people worldwide with 65,000 fatalities.
In India, Tablighi Jamaat has emerged as the newest hotspot with more than 1,000 cases in the country linked to the Jamaat congregation in March. The government on Sunday claimed that Tablighi Jamaat has significantly contributed to the rise of coronavirus outbreak in the country, citing that the cases are doubling in 4.1 days as against the earlier number of confirmed cases that doubled in around 7.4 days on an average.
Former Congress President who ran the 2019 general election campaign on ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai‘ slogan on Sunday ended up stealing a cartoon from a startup which makes quirky cartoons on news. On Sunday, the Wayanad MP shared a cartoon titled ‘COVID-19 Survival Kit’ to mock the ‘lights out’ campaign of Prime Minister Modi to extend solidarity in fight against coronavirus.
#Covid19 के विरुद्ध लड़ने वाले स्वास्थ्य क्षेत्र के डॉक्टर, नर्स, सफ़ाई कर्मचारी आदि सबका आभार व्यक्त करने के साथ ही, हमें ये भी याद रखना होगा कि अब तक सब को सुरक्षा उपकरण नहीं मिले हैं।बिना उपकरण के कई समर्पित कर्मचारी निरंतर जान जोखिम में डालने पर मजबूर हैं। pic.twitter.com/snZhszHHFW
The cartoon shared by Rahul Gandhi tried to mock the campaign by claiming that while the other countries are looking at masks, sanitisers and hygiene for fighting coronavirus, India is resorting to diyas, torches and banging vessels. Rahul Gandhi conveniently forgets that the lighting lamps and clapping and ringing bells are symbolic gestures to create a feeling that we are all together in this fight against Chinese coronavirus. The masks, PPEs and other equipments are being made available to the doctors at war footing.
However, even while mocking the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi stole someone else’s artwork, cropped out the watermark and denied credit to the toon-startup.
The cartoon was created by SnapNews, which called out the former Congress President for using their artwork without their permission and due credit.
Vishal Bhargava, one of the partners at SnapNews, while speaking to OpIndia said that, “We would have appreciated if he had taken permission and not cropped out our logo. It is quite prominent on the top left corner. The top part is edited and only central part of cartoon was shared.”
This is not the first time Congress has been caught red-handed stealing creative ideas of others and passing them off as original ideas.
In an even more hilarious copy-cat instance, Gujarat Congress, which is harbouring hopes of revival in Gujarat, seems to have borrowed their tagline, “Congress Aave Chhe” from a cooking oil brand, Pankaj, which had the tagline “Pankaj Aave Chhe”, months before Congress came up with the tagline. Earlier, too, Congress had ‘copied‘ the ‘Main Nahin, Hum’ tagline of Gujarat government chintan shivir during their 2014 campaign.
Main Nahin Hum campaign lifted by Congress
We had also reported how the idea of “Indira canteen” in Karnataka may have been directly lifted from the food subsidisation programme run by Tamil Nadu Government, “Amma Canteen”, which Rahul Gandhi inadvertently ended up crediting. In 2016, a cartoonist had alleged that Congress forced him to take off his cartoon.
Not only media cell, even former ministers from the UPA have been accused of plagiarism. The Hindu had published an article ‘From welfare to paternalism’ by Veerappa Moily, on June 11, 2015, which they had to withdraw after charges of plagiarism were put on Moily. As reported, several paragraphs under a subheading were copied from another article by G Sampath which was published on 26th May, 2015, ironically in The Hindu itself. Also speaks volumes about the editorial standards of the publication.
Seems like Congress steals not just our money, but also our ideas.
