On Tuesday, Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), read out the national directive announced by the Ministry, amidst the Wuhan Coronavirus lockdown. She informed that wearing masks and maintaining a minimum distance of 2 feet is mandatory in public space. Moreover, spitting in the open has now been made a punishable offence.
The MHA Joint Secretary has made it clear that the congregation of more than 5 people is not allowed in shops or in any public space. Again, the gathering of more than 50 people is prohibited in weddings. More than 20 people cannot attend the last rites of deceased individuals. It is mandatory to abide by social distancing guidelines during such gatherings.
To maintain social distancing, gathering of not more than 50 persons are allowed at wedding functions and not more than 20 persons at last rites of deceased persons: Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) #COVID19pic.twitter.com/S2VnxxxZRv
The MHA Joint Secretary has also informed that all offices need to provide thermal screening, besides face masks and hand sanitisers. The employers of such companies have been tasked to ensure the registration of their employees on the Aarogya Setu app. Social distancing guidelines need to be followed.
The Ministry has also directed that the offices have to be sanitised between work shifts. The list of dedicated Coronavirus hospitals are also be provided to the employees. The Government has also recommended the offices to avoid physical meetings, besides maintaining highest standards of health and hygiene.
The offices that are operational now must ensure thermal scanning of employees.The incharge must ensure sufficient availability of face masks&sanitisers. Social distancing norms must be followed. Employees must be registered on Aarogya Setu app:Joint Secy,Ministry of Home Affairs pic.twitter.com/dYYXnzSdPG
On May 1, the Union Home Ministry issued a notification which said that the lockdown will be further extended for two weeks. The lockdown was first imposed from 25th March to 14th April, which was later extended till 3rd May. Now the lockdown will continue till 17th May, as per the new order of the union govt, but the extended lockdown has a large number of relaxations।
Different districts in the country has been classified as red zone, orange zone and green zone. While most restrictions will go away in green zone districts, the lockdown will continue in red zones, while orange zones will see limited relaxations. Schools, colleges and educational institutions, malls and cinemas continue to remain closed.
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department of Tamil Nadu on May 4 took back its order dated April 22 that had asked Hindu temples to transfer Rs 10 crores to the State to the Chief Minister’s Coronavirus Relief Fund. This order came after the Madras High Court found it ‘not legally tenable. While withdrawing the order, the HR&CE Department said that it was withdrawing the earlier order for ‘administrative reasons’.
Due to pressure & prompt legal action of Hindu society, Tamilnadu Govt. withdraws GR of forcefully taking ₹.10 Crore exclusively from Hindu Temples. Govts sud desist frm such anti-Hindu actions in future : @MParandeVHPpic.twitter.com/W9awKZKAuM
— Vishva Hindu Parishad -VHP (@VHPDigital) May 5, 2020
While taking up three petitions against the 22 April HR&CE order for hearing, Madras High Court’s public interest litigation (PIL) bench comprising Justices Vineet Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana observed that the order was ‘untenable’.
The three people who had filed the petition against the HR&CE circular were TR Ramesh, President, Hindu Temple Worshippers Society, Tamil daily Dinamalareditor RR Gopaljee and one other person. Maintaining that it has found merit in the argument of the counsel of the three petitioners, the HC bench adjourned the matter to May 8 and directed M Karthikeyan, counsel for the HR&CE department, to produce the relevant order passed by the Commissioner of the department, withdrawing the circular.
“In the meanwhile, the department shall not act upon the circular, against the temples included in the said circular,” the bench said.
The Tamil Nadu government, in turn, on Monday, informed the Madras High Court that it has decided to stop a move of utilizing surplus funds lying with the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department for COVID-19 mitigation efforts and also to withdraw the circular in this regard.
TN govt withdraws direction to 47 temples to give Rs 10 crore of surplus income to CM relief fund
TN govt withdraws direction to 47 temples to give Rs 10 crore of surplus income to CM relief fund
47 temples have to pay rupees 10 crores: Tamil Nadu government order
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Dept (HR & CE) of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government in Tamil Nadu had directed 47 temples to give Rs 10 crore of surplus funds to CM relief fund.
Tamil Nadu govt order
HR&CE Principal Secretary K Panindra Reddy had directed all officials working under him in 47 temples including Madurai, Palani, Thiruchendur, Tiruttani, Thiruvannamalai, Rameswaram, Mylapore, and others to contribute Rs 35 lakhs each from the surplus funds towards feeding the poor due to lockdown. Other temples have been directed to give an amount ranging from Rs 15 lakhs to 25 lakhs. All 47 temples were ordered to transfer the surplus fund of 10 crores to CM Corona Relief fund.
This move had come under severe criticism as questions were raised on Edappadi K Palaniswami government’s prejudice against Hindus’. Dissent grew as people criticised the government for not demanding the same from the Christian and Muslim institutions, which were receiving government grants yearly.
Gives free rice to Mosques, but asks Hindu Temples to pay 10 crores
As part of its appeasement politics, the ruling AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu had ordered the distribution of 5,450 tonnes of free rice to 2,985 mosques of the state on April 16 in the month of Ramzan, so that those who were keeping Rojas would not suffer. This rice at Rs 21/kg will cost the Tamil Nadu government little over Rs 11 crore.
Earlier the Madras High Court had rejected the petition, refusing to interfere with the Tamil Nadu government order to distribute free rice to mosques in the month of Ramzan.
At the beginning of the festival of Ramzan, the Tamil Nadu state government announced a major benefit to Muslims. The Tamil Nadu government had announced that 5,450 tonnes of rice would be given to 2,895 mosques this year for preparing porridge.
Unlike Muslims, Hindus don’t get anything in festivals
No similar help or plan is given to prepare offerings to the village deities of Hindus during Chaitra and other months. The Tamil Nadu government collects more than Rs 3000 crore per year from Hindu temples through Hundi collection, offerings, darshan tickets, special program fees, etc., while only Rs 4-6 crores are given for maintenance. Rest 2,995 crore rupees remain with the government.
At the same time, Srivilliputhur Vaishnavit Math Chief Sadgopa Ramanuj Jiyar urged the Tamil Nadu government to spend the temple money to give to the priests and servants. Dr. Krishnaswamy, the head of Puthia Tamizhagam has appealed to the CM to refund the amount of Rs 10 Crores received from the temples.
While the vendetta against Republic TV Editor in chief Arnab Goswami continues unabated the senior journalist is also resolute to pay back his oppressors in the same coin. In yet another development, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswamihas filed a petition seeking quashing of a fresh FIR filed against him.
Notably, this petition comes a day after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, headed by Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, on behalf of the Deputy Commission of Mumbai (Zone III), had filed an application in the apex court of the country alleging that the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief was “browbeating” the police.
Arnab today moved the apex court seeking quashing of a fresh FIR against him registered on May 3 on a complaint filed by Secretary of Raza Educational Welfare Society, Irfan Abubakar Shaikh.
Goswami has moved the Supreme Court seeking for this FIR to be quashed and for a blanket direction that no cognizance of any complaint is taken by any court on any FIR registered by the police on the same cause of action as in the present writ petition.
He has also sought a restraint against the “servant and agents” of the State of Maharashtra from filing any FIR against him in relation to his debate programs on the issue of the Bandra incident.
Arnab Goswami claims Congress building fake narrative of a fabricated migrant crisis
In his petition, Goswami has claimed that the Congress Party ecosystem also tried to build a fake narrative of a fabricated migrant crisis in Mumbai.
In his petition, he claims that Republic TV was the first channel to report the fact that political interest groups, mainly leaders of the Congress, were spreading fake news and orchestrating lockdown violations in Mumbai, which is a matter of national concern.
Goswami in his petition claims that the FIR is “politically motivated” and goes on to claim that same has been registered as the Mumbai Police “harbours ill will” against him.
Goswami’s petition says that since the Police realise that the anchor could not be “framed” in the case relating to objectionable comments made against Sonia Gandhi, a new FIR has now been registered.
The plea reads: “…the Mumbai Police, has registered the FIR based on a complaint filed by the Respondent No 3 (Irfan Abubakar Shaikh), which is patently false, vindictive, frivolous, malicious and precipitated with malice.”
Goswami re-asserts in his petition that the Bandra incident was a “fake migrant crisis” that he “unearthed” through his debate program. He has also sought adequate security to be provided to his family and his colleagues at Republic TV.
Fresh FIR against Arnab Goswami on May 3
On May 3, 2020, a new FIR was registered at Pydhonie police station on the complaint of Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary of Raza Educational Welfare Society and a resident of Null Bazar in South Mumbai. The complaint said that Arnab Goswami had tried to create hatred against the Muslim community by linking the Bandra protests with a mosque near the protest site even though there was no such link.
Raza Academy had organised the August 2012 protests at Azad Maidan in Mumbai which escalated to riots. The most shocking incident of the Azad Maidan Riots was the desecration of Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial by the Muslim mobs. The war memorial is dedicated to the fighters of 1857 – the First Indian Freedom Struggle.
Shaikh said that on April, in a show on Republic Bharat anchored by Arnab Goswami, footage of the Bandra protest by migrants near Bandra railway station was used. The complaint said that protestors had only gathered at an open space near the mosque, but there was no link between the mosque and the protests. But “Arnab purposely highlighted the mosque to create communal disturbance in the city,” the complainant alleged.
Shaikh has also alleged that there were many other comments and debates on the channel which had blamed Muslims for spreading Coronavirus in the country. “Goswami had made many such hate filled comments against the community, targeting it,” he said.
The complaint notes that Arnab Goswami linked the Bandra Mosque to the migrants’ protest without any reason and gave a communal colour to the protest.
On 27th April, Arnab Goswami was interrogated for over 12 hours by Mumbai Police at NM Joshi Marg Police station in Mumbai. He was questioned after the Congress party filed more than 150 FIRs against him in various states of the country. The Supreme Court had merged all the FIRs into one and transferred to Mumbai. The apex court had also granted interim protection of three weeks to the Republic TV Editor. Republic Network’s CFO was also questioned for several hours in the same case.
Congress had in gloves with Mumbai police
The Congress party opened a war front against Arnab Goswami after he had questioned Congress President Sonia Gandhi over her silence on the Palghar lynching case where two Hindu saints and their driver were brutally killed by a mob in the presence of police. Arnab Goswami had used the birth name of Sonia Gandhi, and had insinuated that she will take the lynching as a success story after forming the govt in Maharashtra. Launching an attack against Sonia Gandhi, Arnab Goswami had questioned if she would have maintained the silence she is exhibiting today had Christian padres been killed instead of Hindu sadhus in the horrifying lynching incident in Palghar. Taking objections to the comments, Congress party had filed police complaints in various states against him, mostly in Congress ruled states.
Arnab Goswami was also attacked by two Congress goons in the wee hours of the intervening night between the 22nd and the 23rd of April. Although they had confessed to be Congress members before the security officer of Arnab Goswami, the Mumbai police refused to mention that in the FIR registered in the attack. Goswami alleges that attack on him is being ignored by police, while the entire police force have gone after against him.
Even at a time when the country is unitedly putting up a brave fight against the spread of the coronavirus, the principal opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has exploited the crisis by engaging in petty politics and potentially sabotaging the central’s government’s efforts to contain the raging pandemic.
Recently, the Congress General Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, violated the government-mandated Inter-state travel guidelines and employed her personal resources to extract 72 stranded migrant labours to Amethi from the coronavirus-ravaged Rajasthan, a state ruled by the Congress party. The migrant workers were then sent to their respective homes after their medical check-up was carried out.
#अमेठी:राजस्थान के भरतपुर व गुजरात की सीमा में फंसे 72 मजदूरों को अपने निजी संसाधन से कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय महासचिव प्रियंका गांधी वाड्रा ने अमेठी पहुंचाया, सभी को मेडिकल चेकअप के बाद उनके घर तक पहुंचाने का प्रबंध जिला अध्यक्ष प्रदीप सिंघल ने किया @amethicongress@priyankagandhipic.twitter.com/T3uyF6qDrV
However, Priyanka Gandhi’s supposed act of benevolence, designed to garner sympathy from the migrant workers of Amethi, the district where her brother Rahul Gandhi was trounced by the BJP stalwart Smriti Irani in the 2019 General Elections, spelt doom for the region which was a green zone until the arrival of migrant workers from Rajasthan. As one of the persons who were brought back to UP from Rajasthan by Priyanka Gandhi has now tested positive for Coronavirus.
The Amethi District Officer wrote a letter to the UP government, informing them about the arrival of migrant workers from Rajasthan and Coronavirus red zones such as Ajmer without any prior notice to the local administration. The letter dated May 2 said that a bus was stopped at the Inhauna border of the Amethi district carried 28 passengers, and a driver and a cleaner, who had a travel pass authorised by Ajmer District Magistrate along with the medical reports of 29 people. Out of the 28 passengers, 11 of them were women.
Letter by Amethi District Officer
The District Magistrate, Arun Kumar, mentioned that all the members of the Bus had been mandatorily quarantined as per the government notification and their swab samples had been sent to test for the coronavirus. Citing the Home Ministry guidelines for Inter-district and Inter-state movement of individuals except for medical reasons and another provision that enables the transfer of migrant workers from one state to another with their mutual consultation and agreement, Kumar claimed that the Ajmer District Magistrate authorised travel pass in gross violation of the guidelines issued by the central government.
Furthermore, the letter asserts that neither the state administration nor the district administration in UP was informed before the generation of Inter-State vehicle pass by the Ajmer District Magistrate. He also added that the Bus was not stopped at Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh border and was intercepted only at the Amethi district border.
Highlighting that it is a matter of grave concern that people from COVID-19 red zones such as Ajmer are being allowed to freely travel across the country, Kumar urged the UP government to take necessary action in this regard.
Days after the Amethi District Magistrate wrote the worrying letter to the Uttar Pradesh government, one of the 28 people who had returned to Amethi in the bus from Ajmer has tested positive for the coronavirus. The patient is a 45-year-old woman named Shah Bano, a resident of Kamroli. The reports of 7 others had come back negative while the reports of remaining passengers are still awaited. The administration now fears the spectre of lurking coronavirus cases in the district, especially after the Congress party facilitated the return of migrant workers from Rajasthan which is reeling under the scourge of coronavirus outbreak.
Another shocking incident is that while the migrants who come from Rajasthan were kept in quarantine by Amethi administration, district Congress president Pradeep Singhal and other local Congress leaders visited the camp to distribute relief material. People are kept in quarantine to keep them out of contact with other people, but Congress leaders went to the camp to meet them, which is a complete violation of norms. According to reports, Pradeep Singhal also managed to get the bus to cross the state border using his connections.
So while the Congress party unabashedly gloats that its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra deployed private resources to get back distraught migrant workers, it is worth noting that her endeavour of scoring a few political brownie points amidst the pandemic has not only undermined the district’s battle against the Coronavirus but has also massively jeopardised the safety of people in Amethi and denuded it of its green zone status.
After the first COVID-19 case was detected in Amethi, the district administration ordered to seal the area to contain the spread of the virus. Therefore, the area which could have enjoyed the relaxations from 4th May as a green zone had to go into restriction because the Wuhan Coronavirus was brought to the place from Rajasthan by the Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Shiv Sena leader Rahul Kanal yesterday took to Twitter to mock BJP’s Kirit Somaiya for raising concern about the growing number of coronavirus cases in the Worli neighbourhood of Mumbai. The Former MP Somaiya had taken a swipe at Shiv Sena’s “Worli Model” gimmick in a tweet claiming that the COVID-19 cases in Worli, which are already more than 800, will soon reach 1000, a highest for any containment zone in the country.
However, the harsh reality of the bungled handling of coronavirus in Mumbai by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government did not sit well with Shiv Sena leader Rahul Kanal who derided Somaiya by mocking him for his lisp.
Kanal tweeted, “Aleeee tumhi ghali zopha ho, kasa saathi tumhi kay pan boltat, tilit tomaiya ji zala tumchya kamala baga ani amchya baga diffelence aahe naa, telhi (delhi) madhe kakana victhara,aamhi kaam kartoye acting aani setting nahi, tumhala patnaar nahi, water boy aaahat tech Kara!(
Aleeee tumhi ghali zopha ho, kasa saathi tumhi kay pan boltat, tilit tomaiya ji zala tumchya kamala baga ani amchya baga diffelence aahe naa, telhi (delhi) madhe kakana victhara,aamhi kaam kartoye acting aani setting nahi, tumhala patnaar nahi, water boy aaahat tech Kara! https://t.co/uiQQ8zAYYA
The translation to the above tweet says, “You are inconsequential, why are you bothering to comment? See the difference between your work and our work Tilit Tomaiya (Kirit Somaiya), ask uncle(PM Modi) in Delhi, we do work, not acting, you won’t like it, you are a water boy and you should stick to it”
Many users on Twitter were incensed with Kanal’s shameful conduct of mocking someone for his speech disability. One of the Twitter users, Amruta Joshi, posted a tweet condemning lisp shaming by Kanal. Urging him to argue on facts, she advised Mr Kanal to have a modicum of respect for dissenting voices.
However, instead of feeling apologetic for his actions, Kanal brazened it out claiming that the BJP leader was indulging in a propaganda campaign and therefore he was compelled into responding in a manner that reflected the characteristics of the individual.
Mam exactly what I meant give respect take respect, but not botched up Nos,this is the time to be positive and get constructive, if he just wants a propaganda out of anything,dnt like this either but characteristics of an individual force you to reply in their language…
“Mam exactly what I meant give respect take respect, but not botched up Nos, this is the time to be positive and get constructive, if he just wants propaganda out of anything, don’t like this either but characteristics of an individual force you to reply in their language…,” Kanal responded.
The sham of Worli Model
Of late, an attempt is being made by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra to tout the Worli Koliwada Model as a perfect example of the containment zone in the country to cover up its apparent shortfalls in dealing with the raging coronavirus crisis in Maharashtra. Recently, a five-member Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), headed by an additional secretary, Manoj Joshi, was on a two-day visit in Mumbai on April 21 to assess the state’s preparedness in battling the coronavirus outbreak.
Besides visiting Kasturba hospital and the BMC headquarters, the team paid a visit to G-south ward, comprising of slum pockets of Worli Koliwada and Jijamata Nagar, the zone with the highest number of positive coronavirus cases in the city.
However, as the IMCT visit in Mumbai was about to conclude, a spurious report was published in the Times of India claiming that the IMCT team which was in the city to review the state’s readiness in fighting the spread of the coronavirus “felt” that Worli Koliwada can be a perfect model for the rest of the country in containing the coronavirus outbreak.
The article published in the Times of India cites a press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) to claim that additional secretary, Manoj Joshi hailed the Worli Koliwada model as the best example of the coronavirus-free zone in the country, asserting that the model is worth replicating in other areas to break the virus chain.
Essentially, this means that the article published in the Times of India was based on the inputs from the Maharashtra state government and not from the additional secretary Manoj Joshi himself. OpIndia spoke to a few officials who denied the knowledge of any such model existing and had expressed apprehensions that Joshi could have been misquoted. While our attempts to reach Mr Joshi failed, sources have claimed that Times Of India has misquoted the official, presumably, due to the press release by the state government.
The Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir police in a joint operation have arrested an over-ground worker of the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen with ammunition from Doda of Jammu and Kashmir.
The over-ground worker of Hizbul Mujahideen is identified as Tanveer Ahmer Malik. He was hiding in Tantna Village of Doda district.
In a joint operation by police and Army, one over ground worker of Hizbul Mujahideen arrested; one Chinese pistol and 10 rounds recovered: SSP Doda, Jammu and Kashmir
The Superintendent of police of Doda revealed that the forces have recovered ammunition including a Chinese pistol, a wireless set, and 10 round bullets from him. The Overground workers are mainly civilians who sympathize with the idea of terror. They supply the essential information of security forces to terrorists and provide them with local aid including logistics and shelter.
Jammu and Kashmir police stated that Over-ground workers “act as eyes and ears” of the underground terrorists. They arrange hideouts, transport weapons from safe places to the areas where terror strikes are planned by the outfits.
They keep watch on the movement of security forces, arrange hideouts for militants and also provide other logistic support to them. They also do the tasks of distributing separatist literature to spread the agenda and organize hate campaigns against security forces.
It is notable here that in the last few days there have been several encounters with terrorists in the Kashmir valley. On May 2, five soldiers were martyred while trying to rescue a local family taken hostage by LeT terrorists in Handwara. Yesterday, 3 CRPF jawans were martyred in another terrorist attack in the Kupwara district.
Coming as a major embarrassment for Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, who made tall claims of paying for the migrant workers, the Congress-led government in Rajasthan has admitted to charging migrant labourers for the Jaipur-Patna Shramik Special train. According to a Times Now report, the Ashok Gehlot government has admitted of accepting money from migrants workers for their travel back to their native place.
According to multiple reports, while most state governments have paid for the travel of migrant workers from the state exchequer, Kerala, Rajasthan and Maharashtra remain the only three states to have charged the migrant workers for their travel back to their native place.
It is pertinent to note that in two of three states- Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, Congress is in the government. Rajasthan is ruled by the Congress party while Maharashtra is presided over by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government-a coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress party.
Sonia Gandhi blamed centre for levying charges on the migrant workers
Ironically, the Rajasthan government’s admission comes barely a day after Sonia Gandhi had courted controversy by blaming the centre for levying charges on the migrant workers
Based on a fallacious report published in ‘The Hindu’ that said railways is charging extra money from stranded migrants to travel in special trains, Sonia Gandhi had jumped in to declare that her party will be bearing the non-existent cost of the railway tickets of the migrants. Railways had issued a clarification that it is not charging any money from the migrants.
Congress offers to pay for fares which anyway government was paying for
On Monday, Congress leaders took to Twitter to claim that since government is charging money for the railway fare of the stranded migrants going back home on Shramik Special trains, the party will chip in and bear the expenses for the same. This offer to pay for the migrants’ fare came two days after the Railway Ministry had clarified that the state and central governments are facilitating the movement of migrants through Shramik Special trains. On Sunday, 3rd May, 2020, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to clarify Madhya Pradesh State Government will bear their expenses.
However, now that Congress has offered to use its own money instead of tax payers’, Rajasthan Chief Minister has offered to absolve Congress party of the responsibility.
Hours after Congress offered to pay for the railway fares of stranded migrant workers, the Congress government in Rajasthan has stepped in to save the party’s money. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has announced that the state government, not the party, will pay for the railway fares of migrants.
Ashok Gehlot uses Rajasthan tax payers’ money to save Congress treasury
Taking to Twitter, Gehlot on Monday credited Sonia Gandhi said that “On direction of Sonia Gandhi, we have decided that Rajasthan government will bear expenses of those who are travelling from Rajasthan to other states.”
Sonia Gandhi had actually directed state Congress units, not Congress run governments, to pay for the migrant workers. Hence, Gehlot, in a bid to save the party fund will now use Rajasthan tax payers’ money by bearing the expenses. While many state governments, like Madhya Pradesh, have stepped in to bear the expenses of migrant workers, Congress-led Rajasthan government’s decision had come after the party president directed party funds be used for the same.
Congress caught it its own web of lies
In the entire farce created by the Congress, first, the party falsely accuses Railways of charging migrants workers and offers to bear expenses of those who are travelling from Rajasthan and other Congress-ruled states to other states. Honouring his president’s words, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had confirmed to pay on behalf of the migrant workers. Here, he cleverly plans to save the party fund by devising using Rajasthan taxpayers’ money by bearing the expenses. Eventually, it appears that the migrant workers land up paying for their own travel, an allegation Congress had levied on the central government based on which the entire drama was formulated.
In a video that has now gone viral on social media, AIMIM supporter Abu Faisal can be seen fear-mongering amidst the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus in the country. He began by claiming that Muslim women should refuse to take injections prescribed by doctors as it can make them sterile.
In a video widely circulated on social media, Faisal is seen alleging that a ‘vicious campaign’ that is supposedly underway to limit the Muslim population. Encouraging his Muslim brethren to assault non-Muslim doctors, he said that the Muslim patient must inject the non- Muslim doctor first before taking the prescribed medication.
Claims coronavirus is a Hindu conspiracy
To back his insidious claims, he plays the recording of a call wherein a man can be heard claiming that young Muslim men are administered slow poison, in a bid to turn them sterile or cause eventual death. Furthermore, Faisal says that Coronavirus is a conspiracy by the Rashtriya Svayamsevaka Saṅgha (RSS) and no infectious virus exists.
Halfway into the video, he alleges that the media has been directed to target Muslims and defame Islam under the garb of Coronavirus pandemic. Spewing vitriol against Hindus, he refers to them as “dung” and “piss” worshippers. He further provokes all Muslims to unite by citing impending doom.
Warns of genocide against Hindus
Further referring to Hindus as “swines”, “cow piss drinkers” and choicest of expletives, he threatens of destroying the saffron. Abu Faisal says that cow’s urine runs in the body of Hindus and that they are a blot on humanity. He added that the pandemic is a conspiracy by Hindu groups to restrict the movements of Muslims and damage Muslim businesses.
Warning of genocide against Hindus, he claimed that his restraint is due to the month of Ramzan. And interestingly, his contentious video has received overwhelming support from fellow Muslims. He goes on to call Hindus as a ‘dung eating’ community and terms Hindus as ‘Sooar ke aulaad’ (children of pigs). He claims that Muslims can easily kill, rape and wipe out Hindus. The video has been the subject of a heated social media discussion.
The video was shared on Abu Faisal’s Facebook page on May 2 and has received thousands of likes and shares. Over 6 lakh people have watched it on Facebook. Faisal’s Facebook page claims connections with the AIMIM and is named ‘AIMIM Abu Faisal’.
The conversation as India continues to battle the Coronavirus pandemic has been revolving around the sorry state of migrant workers who are stranded in different states, waiting to go back home. With no mode of transportation as a lockdown was imposed to battle the pandemic, stranded migrant workers had taken to the streets several times in several states demanding that the government facilitate their travel back home. Keeping in view the grim situation, the central government started ‘Shramik’ trains. These are special trains that are meant to ferry migrant workers back to their home states during the Coronavirus lockdown.
The controversy started with the Congress party President, Sonia Gandhi, claiming that the central government is charging passengers for their return back home. Several media houses too peddled this blatant lie. In reality, 85% of the cost is borne by the Central Government (Railways) and 15% was to be borne by the state government. The state govt could choose to cough up the money from their own coffers, take help of some NGO or collect the money through other means. The central government and the railways were not charging the passengers directly at all and the mode of collection of that 15% was left to the state. Considering the Congress was extremely outraged at the through (though a lie of their own making) of money being charged to stranded migrant workers, one would have expected that the Congress-ruled states would ensure that the 15% was drawn from the state coffers and not the migrant workers.
However, that is not what happened.
According to some reports, while most state governments have paid for the travel of migrant workers from the state exchequer, Kerala, Rajasthan and Maharashtra remain the only three states to have charged the migrant workers for their travel back to their native place.
As per PTI, Maharashtra state minister Nitin Raut has written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging him to bear the travel cost of migrants leaving the state. He also wrote to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday, requesting that the railways bear the cost of transportation of migrants from the state. In addition to this, a report by Times Now claims that besides Maharashtra, Kerala and Rajasthan have also asked the migrants to pay for the railway tickets.
If one recalls, protests had erupted in Maharashtra and Rajasthan earlier were migrant workers had demanded to go home. There are several protests that have been reported from several other states where migrants from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and other states are also demanded to be sent back home.
New Indian Express reported today (emphasis added):
“Just days after migrant labourers protested at IIT-Hyderabad wanting to back home, several migrant labourers staged a protest on Saturday in Tellapur at the construction site of a well-known real estate developer. Their demand was similar. They wanted to be sent back home by train or bus. Police officials swung into action to pacify an estimated 3,000 labourers at the site. These included migrants from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha”.
Over the last three days, the Gujarat government has facilitated the return of over 4,600 migrant workers to their native states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh over the past three days.
However, the numbers are not nearly sufficient. According to a report in the Times of India, 2.84 Lakh migrant workers have registered from various states to go back home to Rajasthan. Bengal too has thousands of labourers stuck in various parts of the country, waiting to go back home, seeing a glimmer of hope as Sharmik trains start ferrying workers back.
But, with thousands and lakhs of workers waiting to return to their home states and the central government running shramik trains, there seems to be a discrepancy in the numbers emerging from central railways.
Number of Shramik Trains that have run so far from and to various states (A list of destination states)
Number of Shramik Trains that have run so far from and to various states (A list of originating states)
Till today morning at 9 AM, 69 trains have been operated by the central government and railways. However, when one sees, the number of trains that have left from states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra are far more than the number of incoming trains to these states (that carried their own migrant labours from other states). In fact, for West Bengal, only two trains have been operated that have carried their own migrant labours back to the state from other states like Rajasthan.
The obvious conclusion drawn from this is that states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan specifically and sending our more migrant labourers to their own home states than accepting their own migrant labours back from other states.
According to sources in the Railways Ministry, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are not giving permission for the trains carrying their own migrants back from various states.
Let us analyse what is happening is different states.
Rajasthan and migrant workers
On the 26th of April, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that migrant workers from other states who were stuck in Rajasthan would be allowed to go back to their home states. However, talking about the migrant labours from Rajasthan stuck in other states, he said that they would be allowed to come back in a ‘phased manner’. The same Hindustan Times report also mentioned that “Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have already initiated the process to bring back migrant labourers stranded in other states after the lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic was imposed in March till April 14 and then extended till May 3”.
So, while Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar are ready to accept their migrants back, Rajasthan is emphasising that they will accept their own labourers back in a “phased manner”. Interestingly, only 3 Shramik trains have are ‘on-run’ so far that are getting Rajasthani migrants back to the state. On the other hand, 10 trains carrying migrant labours back to other home states have already been terminated and 4 are in the pipeline.
Essentially, while 2.84 lakh migrant workers are waiting to go back to their home state, Rajasthan, from various other states, the Rajasthan government is solely focussing on sending labourers of other states back from Rajasthan but not on accepting their own labourers from other states. While the Rajasthan government is grandstanding and stating that it will bear the cost of migrant workers leaving the state, it has not said anything about accepting its own labourers back, who are stranded in different states.
This could potentially cause a crisis in other states which are accepting their own migrants and also tending to migrants from states like Rajasthan which are not focused on getting their own people back to the state.
Maharashtra and migrant workers
For the state of Maharashtra, the numbers are not very different. Only one train has got its own labourers back from various states while 8 trains have ferried labourers back from Maharashtra to their home states.
For example, labourers from Maharashtra were protesting in MP demanding that be sent back home as recently as April 30th. In Hyderabad too, migrant labours including those from Maharashtra staged a protest demanding to go back home.
The conduct of the Maharashtra government has been the worst, so far. While news emerged that they are charging migrant labourers for a health check-up before allowing them to return to their home states, as a measure of hollow grandstanding, Uddhav Thackeray had urged the central government not to charge migrants, hiding the fact that it is the state that is supposed to cough up the 15% and thus, that migrant labourers are being charged is solely the doing of the Maharashtra government.
While Maharashtra itself seems slow in accepting their own migrants back, Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik went ahead and alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government was purposefully putting stringent conditions for the repatriation of migrants staying in Maharashtra in a bid to avoid accepting them even though a total of 16 trains (either terminated, running or in the pipeline) are scheduled to bring migrants back to UP.
West Bengal and migrant workers
The West Bengal government has itself said that they are going slow in accepting their own migrant labours back.
It was reported that the state feels the return of so many people without Covid-19 tests needs to be planned with utmost care so that the infection does not spread to new areas through those coming back. West Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said no one coming from other states would be allowed to enter containment zones. “So, if someone taking a train for Bengal hails from a containment zone, he or she cannot be sent home. Some other arrangement needs to be made and these require time,” Sinha said.
“It won’t be proper to allow lakhs of stranded migrants labourers all in one go. They need to be brought back in phases because detailed planning has to be made. Else every effort made till date will go down the drain,” Sinha added.
With this stand, it is no surprise that only two trains have carried Bengal labours back to the state from other states.
Madhya Pradesh and migrant workers
Though the trains that ferried migrant labours back to Madhya Pradesh is only one, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressly stated that all migrant workers who belong to MP will be brought back. In fact, due to the distance not being much, the State Government arranged several busses for the migrants to come back to MP from various other states, especially from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
On Saturday, Mr. Chouhan had announced the State government was making arrangements to bring back its native labourers stuck in different States in buses.
“We will not let them walk,” he said. “We have seen them walk back home on roads and rail tracks in the heat. They must be a worried lot. So, we will make all arrangements for their travel, send them back to their villages in buses.”
Before boarding buses, the labourers would be screened for illnesses. “I request all villagers to behave in a humane way with them. The returnees will be home quarantined,” he said.
“I have received several phone calls from individuals in different States wanting to come back. We have arranged for e-passes for them so that they could return using their own transport,” he said.
Thus, the MP government does not seem to be shrugging its responsibility as far as accepting its own people back is concerned.
While the Congress rule states and opposition ruled states like Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal seem to uncaring about their own workers stranded in various states, they seem eager to send labourers back from their own state to other states like MP, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand. Potentially, this could cause another crisis for the destination states since several would not only be tending to their workers who are coming back but also workers from these states who are not being accepted by their states.
While this politics played out, these states have been trying to deflect attention by wrongly blaming the central government for charging migrant labourers for the Shramik trains while it was explicit that the 15% has to be coughed up by the state while 85% cost is being borne by the Railways.
On Monday, the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) in its letter to the State Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha highlighted the “extremely high mortality rate” of Coronavirus in the State of West Bengal, besides the lack of transparent and consistent reporting of the pandemic.
The team appointed by the Central Government for making an on-spot assessment has made its final observations after spending two weeks in the State, starting from April 20.
IMCT observes High Mortality Rate
Slamming the State Government, the IMCT leader Apurva Chandra stated that 105 people have lost their lives to the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic out of 816 reported cases in West Bengal. As such, the Mamata Banerjee-led-State accounts for the highest mortality rate (12.8%) in the country. Chandra attributed the weak surveillance of the government and the low testing conducted in the State as the cause behind the high mortality rate.
Highlighting the lack of transparency and vicious attempts to downplay the outbreak of the Chinese virus in West Bengal, IMCT emphasised on the need for consistent reporting and daily surveillance of patients in hotspots.
Discrepancy in Data
IMCT also pointed out the discrepancy in data released by the State Government about the status of the pandemic in the State. At one time, the West Bengal Government put the number of infected patients at 744. However, it stated the figure of 931 infected patients while briefing the Union Health Ministry on the same day.
Further, the letter alleged that the State bulletins of May 1 and May 2 did not mention the total mortality or the number of Coronavirus patients in the State. IMCT highlighted how the State claimed to have surveyed 50 lac people but did not provide any evidence for the same to the team.
IMCT alleges non cooperation from West Bengal Govt.
On April 25, IMCT complained that four letters had been written to the State Government since April 20 but no response had been received for the same. IMCT alleged that in gross violation of the MHA order, the Chief Secretary of the government had made media statements refusing to allow senior officials to accompany the team, under the pretext of “not wasting their time.”
The leader of the team further revealed that while a presentation was made by the State Health Department on 10 aspects sought by IMCT, the hard copy of the presentation was not provided to the team.
