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Jñanagaman: The Coronavirus Lockdown is an opportunity to move inwards, to know one’s true self

Dr. Mrittunjoy Guha Majumdar
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Jñanagaman: The Coronavirus Lockdown is an opportunity to move inwards, to know one’s true self

The Coronavirus has brought a spurt of death and destruction in its wake. Having come to the fore in Wuhan – China, it has been spreading at an alarming rate, having crossed 12,00,000 cases worldwide. While it has not caused anywhere close to the casualties that, say, the 1918 Influenza pandemic did (with around 50 million reported to have died), due to the infectious nature and lack of vaccines in the foreseeable future (with WHO experts saying that it will take no less than 18 months before any such vaccine can be put out), the danger looms large of this beast taking a much bigger form. As a result, the best countering of this pandemic lies in defence – preventing the spread of the virus by self-isolation and quarantine. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a complete lockdown for 21 days, across the country. Much like in other countries going through this crisis, this has led to a need for economic recalibration and a general feeling of uncertainty that borders on those experienced in times of national (military or economic) emergency. And this should hardly be surprising, since the churning we see right now (much like the famous Samudra Manthan of Hindu mythology) is, or at least has the potential to be, as extraordinary as that seen at the turn of the twentieth century, before the Great War. John Maynard Keynes famous words:

THE INHABITANT OF LONDON COULD ORDER BY TELEPHONE, SIPPING HIS MORNING TEA IN BED, THE VARIOUS PRODUCTS OF THE WHOLE EARTH.

It was banked on the self-assured smugness arising out of an overarching belief on the strength, power and resilience of a global free market that thrived on capital, goods and labour. It was a world with promise, a world conducive for enterprises. Most of all, it was a world where economical interlinking of the countries was assumed to be the best deterrent against any major military conflagration. The First World War (1914-1918) brought this period of harmony and peace to a screeching halt. Terms of reference between elements in society had to be renegotiated, ideas of economics and social order re-imagined, and the realms of science, fine arts, politics and culture had to go through revolutions across the world. Now with supply chains breaking, recession looming large and polities emerging within polities, there seems to be a similar call. Strangely, this time the cause is not human but viral, and the recalibration is more than just social, political and economic.

It is all that and more. 

It is an existential crisis faced by, and yet the associated lockdown is an opportunity for, people the world over. An opportunity to move inwards, to know one’s true Self. To spiritualise. To facilitate Jñanagaman (ज्ञानागमन) – the advent of true knowledge, or, in modern parlance, the awakening of the Force.

Existentialism and the Spiritual

One can only move on from a certain reality either by willpower or when something is amiss. The former is usually a harmonious movement while the latter has a more abrupt onset. Our reality today is characterized by conflict, imbalances and an obsession with the material. The avarice and mindless hedonism that prevails today can be seen from extreme cases such as the Moldovan bank fraud (bungling of $1 billion by Banca de Economii, Unibank and Banca Socială) and the Russian Laundromat (a scheme to move more than $20 billion out of Russia in 2010-2014, while on average 3% of the population lived on less than $5.50/day in that period).

Social structures have broken down, ranging from the family (with working professionals in Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand seeking to not start one, due to various factors), community (social distancing due to the advent of technology-based distractions has reduced social bonding), law (with legal abuse on one hand and misuse of legal provisions by criminals and the rich to escape punishment) and economic order (by malpractices, hoarding and corruption). Some may say there is just a renegotiation and re-imagining of these constructs on certain fronts but I feel the shift is more fundamental than that and making us more attached to ideas, identities and physical assortments to realize the essence of these social structure than is healthy.

Close, but not quite

In today’s world, techno-capitalism has seen consumerism and the self-centred consumer emerging out of a desire to self-fashion through ‘brand identity’. Even protest or ‘rebellion’ against the establishment or system ends up only establishing new brands and constructs. People are dogmatic, parochial and exclusivist. It is either their way or the highway, many a times. Due to the unsustainable lifestyle prevalent today, coupled with the negative impact of rampant industrialisation and urbanisation, health problems (both of the body and the mind) and ecological issues are on the rise.

Never-ending consumerism

Unfair taxations, leaders being an enemy of their own people, priests accused of transgressions, communalism, pollution, mindless killings, sexual trafficking and sex-violence, illegal drug trade, excessive drinking, teachers being disrespected, malaise of fake god-men and increasingly dangerous epidemics and pandemics are key realities of the day.

All of this is due to the preeminence attributed to the triad of materialism, identities and ideologies. 

The only way to break this triad is only by moving inward, by reflecting. By meditating on one’s true Self. Human beings went from being in the middle of the food-chain, with limited natural capabilities, to occupying the top of the food chain with the power of the human mind and the capacity to self-organize based on communication and myth-making. It is with the power of the mind that man has also gone on what I see as a mode of self-destruction, with the aforementioned negative impact humanity has had lately on itself and the environment around. The mind is a powerful tool, as are our actions. While Rome was not built in one day or the Pyramids, for that matter, it was the human mind that expedited the process. Sri Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita speaks of the senses being like wild stallions with a tendency to move everywhichway. It is the Self and the mind that must control it.

In our bid for short-term, material gratifications, one often mistakes the temporary happiness that comes of it as lasting. And this happiness from, and attachment to, the material, to the worldly and the illusory (as a Vedantin would know) is just that: temporary. Fleeting and insubstantial beyond the moments it prevails in. And to make matters worse, it has a certain addictive quality: one seeks to partake of it again and again and again. Even when it may come with its fair share of harmful byproducts (such as health problems due to substance abuse that comes with the high that excessive use of alcohol or drugs may bring or the fear of revenge or repercussions with the temporary one-upmanship achieved by conflict and wanton destruction caused), which is usually seen since the Universe is based on dualities, binaries and multiplicities: happiness comes with sadness much as the rose comes with the thorns, the crest comes with the trough, the particle with the anti-particle. The desire, the drive to seek these fleeting gratifications, not matter what, which cannot be sustained is foolhardy but so ingrained in us that it is tough to get rid of.

Jñana is the only way to break free. 

A realisation of the temporariness of these worldly aspects and elements, and a knowledge of one’s true Self. Though Jñana may be crudely translated as ‘knowledge’, it is knowledge not in isolation of other sensory or experiential realities but rather endowed and inseparable from them. It is knowledge of the sum-total of one’s reality and experience. It can be better understood as realization or Gnosis, whereby one gets to realize one’s oneness with the ultimate reality, which is called Brahman in the Dharmic traditions. This desire to seek such realization is natural for some, but quite often it is not.

The only way then is to throw the futility of the worldly pursuits into sharp contrast; to present an existential crisis that leaves space for survival (and here I do not want to regard the sufferings of thousands of people at all) but that also makes one ponder over one’s beliefs and ideas of life, and most importantly, one’s very existence.

When one realizes the transience of the temporal and the worldly, one looks at the world with dispassion and equanimity. The worldly has limited purpose and relevance, in the ontological sense. This existential inquiry and perspective makes one increasingly non-attached to the material. One must remember that it is very easy to move from existentialism (which is ontological) towards nihilism (which is moral and epistemological but can tread on the ontological as well) and to protect oneself from the assumption that there is no meaning to anything one must make the leap of faith that as absurd as Camus and Kafka find the social and the worldly, there is a purpose for this life, however illusory and superficial (and frankly quite contradictory, many-a-times) it may be in the higher sense of things. Sri Adi Shankaracharya beautifully rebuts metaphysical nihilism with his words in the Brahmasutra Bhashya

य एव हि निराकर्ता तस्य आत्मत्वात्

Which translates to ‘The innermost reality is the very observer who denies the existence of everything‘. If someone or something (let us say- you) is (are) denying the existence of something (let us say – literally everything), surely there is a proactive, positive entity that is doing so. Whether this is true or not is not something I have ever or would like to ever prescribe or dictate, regardless of my personal spiritual experiences and realisations. The Dharmic way is one of seeking the truth, not blindly believing; of being, not becoming.

In that spirit, I will keep to the systematic destruction of the pre-eminence of the material and worldly, and let the reader embark on the journey thereafter, into seeking who one truly is (and whether one’s mind, ideas, identities, circumstantial realities, familial bonds, emotions or even all them combined constitute the fundamental definition of ‘you’). It is only through such a quest, such a journey that Jñanagaman (ज्ञानागमन) can take place. Whether at the end of the journey, you can go through all the seven stages of Jñana or just end up with a purely physicalist conception of yourself is up to you. The Coronavirus, with its associated lockdown and unfortunate claiming of lives, has created a situation for the public which makes one increasingly detached from the humdrum of professional lives, self-isolate and explore oneself, and hopefully slowly grow inward, to see the beauty and Satya (truth) of oneself, whatever that may be for you.

Socio-Political Recalibrations

The lockdown has also brought with it the need for certain socio-political recalibrations. For starters, being a pandemic, it has seen no class, caste, gender, race or nationality, in its wake. Everyone from US Senator Rand Paul and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Prince Charles himself have unfortunately been tested positive. This has done away summarily with the notion of the immunity or invulnerability of certain sections of the human population globally, based on privilege or circumstance. It come for all, in myriad ways. Therefore, this fundamental demolition of the idea of discrimination as much as possible, though, yes, the economically well off can control their environs and other preventive measures a lot more than those that aren’t. Even then, given the lack of a vaccine and fairly long life of the virus, it seems more like this ‘enemy of humanity’ is just undertaking a siege-warfare against humans.

The more privileged may eventually capitulate, if only their defence is longer. Thus, we need to stand as one, cutting across nations and class. This is far from the reality though, with the rich and the privileged getting themselves tested for the virus and creating safe environments for isolation and recovery while many from the lower rungs of society are either unaware of whether they are infected (with the tests being very expensive, at upto around $60 in private labs, for a country where more than 270 million people lived below $1.90 per day on purchasing power parity, as per World Bank estimates for 2011) or finding it tough to tackle the repercussions of government policies to battle COVID.

Economic growth will slow down

Secondly, the re-prioritization of resources and energies, at various levels of human organization, is the other major takeaway. I have previously spoken about the indulgences and even hedonism that have been key parts of human lives in many parts of the world. Not anymore. The Coronavirus has had a major economic impact:  global shares and investments have taken a hit, central banks have had to slash interest rates in response to looming economic downslides, governments have released stimulus packages, and stagnation of economic growth is predicted. The Indian government recently released a massive ₹ 1.7 lakh crore package, with policy-moves such as wage increase under MGNREGA, special cash transfer scheme, insurance for health workers, free cylinders for BPL families, government paying EPF, collateral-free loans for SHGs!

I have personally had some reservations against the new Parliament House plan of the Indian government (since that need not be a priority with the COVID challenge looming large, and it is here to stay for months to come, unless we find a vaccine soon) but have appreciated the good, sure-footed work done by PM Modi and his cabinet to tackle this global challenge. The challenge now is to look at steadying the ship, continuing to look at employment generation (especially if this COVID-battle is long-drawn), safeguarding the interests of workers (particularly in the unorganized sector) and looking after the essential needs of all and sundry, along with a proactive awareness-building campaign (which can be done with a combination of paramilitary and police forces, NGOs and civil society organizations, and government wings). I know things could have been done differently but I am hardly as negative in my assessment as some are.

The battle against Coronavirus has seen conscious, proactive and independent steps taken by villagers to fight the Pandemic in their areas

Lastly, but most importantly, the battle against COVID can only be won by one thing: Decentralisation. Borrowing from the theme of the larger, spiritual direction of this article, of self-empowerment and self-realisation, I would say that this is a war where each of us has to be a soldier. No one is going to come from the skies and airlift us or drop adequate ammunition to fight this ‘enemy of humanity‘. We have to do it as much as the government and other international organizations, such as the WHO, can help with this. If there was ever a time when the words ‘God helps those who help themselves’ are relevant, it would be now.

I have always believed that Swaraj (Self-rule) constitutes the historical backbone of the Indian socio-political order, and even now, more than ever, this needs to be applied. Small businesses and enterprises must be given a boost so that in this period of uncertainty, individuals in society, particularly youth, can harness their talent and resources to contribute to the economy even as it falters slightly. The government already has started to look at financing Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and I feel more steps should be taken to promote initiative, enterprise and labour, as and when permissible under current medical and social restrictions.

As we move towards a society where the action of the individual is important to prevent spread of the virus, we shall move away from over-reliance on the state, towards a more decentralised model of politics, which promotes physical and spiritual individualism but social communitarianism and solidarity. We shall also invariable move towards a more socialist, egalitarian society as people from across classes, castes and races work together to fight this virus. Just as the freedom struggle of India brought people and kingdoms that had never worked together in the past under a common umbrella, this new common enemy COVID may do likewise, except the arena is much larger this time around.

In Conclusion

I have been distressed at hearing about the casualties from around the world in our battle against COVID, from China, USA, UK, Italy, Spain and France, among others. However, I believe the lockdown that has come with the pandemic, as well as the steps that have been taken or will be taken soon, present an unprecedented opportunity for some fundamental recalibrations and reprioritisation of resources and realities, spiritually, socially and politically. It is a chance to move towards a more egalitarian, decentralised society and polity, which also values enterprise and liberty. It is an opportunity to finally cast off the encumbering scaffolds of materialism that bind our spirit, even as it seeks liberation and oneness with the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality, as spiritual or physicalist you find it to be! Don’t lose this opportunity!

It is time to turn the page, and begin a new age, of Satya (truth), with Jñanagaman . ????

Shekhar Gupta’s website comes up with the silliest apologia of Islamism and Tablighi Jamaat, even the Jamaatis’ bullsh*t sounds better

K Bhattacharjee
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Shekhar Gupta’s website comes up with the silliest apologia of Islamism and Tablighi Jamaat, even the Jamaatis’ bullsh*t sounds better

The Tablighi Jamaat has almost singlehandedly turned the battle against the Wuhan Coronavirus against India. After spreading the virus across the lengths and breadths of the country, members of the Islamic Missionary organization has engaged in the worst form of behaviour against the healthcare providers of the country. However, in this moment of crisis contributed to greatly by the Tablighi Jamaat, Shekhar Gupta’s The Print decided it was a good idea to run apologia for the organization and attempt to shift the blame on the BJP.

In a report published on The Print, ‘journalist’ Jyoti Yadav claimed that ‘Indians are fighting against coronavirus and BJP IT cell is fighting against Indians’. In a long tirade against the BJP’s IT Cell, The Print claimed that it was spreading fake news in the midst of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. In a remarkable bit of completely ridiculous fake news, Yadav claimed, “Until the Modi government announced a complete lockdown, the IT cell continued to mislead the public. It is quite possible that due to this propaganda, people also became casual and many stopped taking the situation seriously.”

Yadav further opined, “From the moment some coronavirus cases began to emerge among Muslims linked to Tablighi Jamaat, which had held a religious gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz in mid-march, the IT cell went into overdrive to shame the community and put the blame entirely on them — as if each Muslim in India was responsible for the foolishness of a group.” Nowhere did anyone blame ALL Muslims for the crimes of Tablighi Jamaat and yet, she makes the false claim that they did in order to shift the attention from the Islamic Missionary organization. Jyoti Yadav claimed, “The IT cell had been relentlessly targeting Muslims, even accusing them of “deliberately” spreading the coronavirus. There is no consideration for administrative lapse or behaviours common to all religions; it’s all hate.”

From the contents of the report, it is abundantly clear that the report was written and published with the sole intent of deflecting attention from the crimes of Tablighi Jamaat. The only people who are equating criticism of the Jamaat with spreading hate against the entire Muslim community are the ones who seek to run apologia for the Islamic missionary organization. It is a completely bizarre and malicious claim to make.

Furthermore, Jyoti Yadav dubs the antics of the Tablighi Jamaat mere ‘foolishness’. In reality, what they have done is nothing short of criminal. Members of the Tablighi Jamaat first gathered in large numbers at the Markaz Nizamuddin against government guidelines recommending social distancing. Then, they refused to cooperate with the authorities regarding the future course of action. Some of them have even engaged in sexually predatory behaviour against the female healthcare staff at hospitals, roaming around naked and making lewd gestures at them. Many of them have reached various parts of the country and have refused to come forward on their own in order to assist the government in curbing the spread of the virus. Thus, to label all of it mere ‘foolishness’ is a blatant attempt at whitewashing the crimes of the organization.

It is also pertinent to note that while The Print accords all manners of insidious motives to the BJP, it is more than eager to overlook the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat. During the course of the report, nowhere are the crimes of the Jamaat mentioned while random bits of fake news is attributed to the BJP’s “IT Cell’. From messages urging people to drink GauMutra to claims of the Wuhan Coronavirus not being able to survive in hot weather, everything is attributed to the BJP’s IT Cell without a shred of evidence while the actual crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat are summarily ignored and branded as mere ‘foolishness’.

The Print’s report shows that there is a deliberate attempt underway to whitewash the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat. The crimes of the Islamic Missionary organization are indefensible and it could not even be tried. Therefore, the mainstream media appears to have reconciled itself to the fact that the best way to proceed is to divert attention from it. And the convenient entity to place the blame on is, of course, the BJP.

We have already seen prominent journalists such as the senior editor at The Wire and another at the Wall Street Journal claim that the sexual harassment allegations against the Tablighi Jamaat are ‘false’ and accuse the nurses who were the victims of the members of the organization’s predatory behaviour of indulging in ‘propaganda’. The argument employed was that the Muslims of Tablighi Jamaat are very orthodox in their faith and hence, they could not or would not behave in such a manner with women. Such arguments, of course, have nothing to do with the truth at all as religious fundamentalists of Abrahamic faiths often engage in the most horrific of sexual behaviours, as evidenced by the priests at the Vatican and the terrorists of ISIS.

We see a similar chain of events in the report by The Print. While the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat are downplayed by terming it ‘foolishness’, the gravity of the alleged mistakes of the BJP’s IT Cell is blown out of proportion. Simultaneously, preposterous claims are made to further paint the BJP in poor light. This is not journalism, this is propaganda. This is an instance of a deliberate spreading of misinformation in order to serve one’s political agenda. It is political bias hiding under the garb of objectivity and neutrality.

Spitting on doctors in order to infect them with the Wuhan Coronavirus cannot be called ‘foolishness’, calling the virus a conspiracy against Islam is not mere ‘foolishness’. Refusing to cooperate with healthcare providers and creating a ruckus at hospitals and refusing to obey the social distancing guidelines while in quarantine is not ‘foolishness’ either. These are deliberate attempts to sabotage the government’s efforts towards curbing the spread of the virus. Most importantly, criticizing the Tablighi Jamaat for the same is not spreading hate against Muslims.

Every time an Islamic fundamentalist organization engages in atrocious conduct and receives criticism for the same, the left-wing mainstream media peddles propaganda equating the criticism of the specific organization to spreading hate against the Muslim community. The journalists are quite obviously well aware that they are engaging in false equivalence and yet, the realization does not stop them anyway because their primary objective is to act as apologists for the malicious conduct of the specific organization.

All in all, the apologia offered by The Print is of extremely poor quality contrary to Shekhar Gupta’s normally sophisticated malicious propaganda. Jyoti Yadav’s report blaming the BJP’s IT Cell is akin to the liberal version of the sermon preached by Maulana Saad where he called the Wuhan Coronavirus a giant conspiracy against Islam. The content of the report makes it quite clear that the objective of it was decided first, that is, to absolve the sins of the Tablighi Jamaat and shift the blame on the BJP instead, and the actual content was deliberated upon much later.

The Print has once again demonstrated that its allegiance is not towards truth but political propaganda. By now, given their track record, it has become evident that they do not care the slightest bit about facts. Recently, they published an article littered with misleading assertions in order to denigrate India’s response to the pandemic. That article was by the same author who has earned a reputation for himself of fabricating quotes in order to push the liberal political narrative. In the past, it has also spread the ‘righteous Jihad‘ narrative.

Did discontent within the Congress-led Rajasthan Govt lead to false narratives being peddled regarding a pregnant Muslim woman who lost the 7th child

OpIndia Staff
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Did discontent within the Congress-led Rajasthan Govt lead to false narratives being peddled regarding a pregnant Muslim woman who lost the 7th child

Political rivalry between to leaders of Congress-led Rajasthan Government seems to have led to spread of false narrative regarding the pregnant Muslim woman who was referred to a bigger hospital. Rajasthan Congress leader Vishvendra Singh posted a tweet regarding an incident in a Rajasthan hospital where a Muslim woman her child to underlying health issues. Singh had claimed on social media that the hospital had refused to treat her due to her religion. Singh had said that the local Bharatpur MLA is the state health minister and yet, such incidents were happening in the city. Later, it became known that the Muslim woman was pregnant for the 7th time and was suffering from anaemia due to which she was referred to a different hospital.

Infighting appears to brewing within the ranks Rajasthan state government. Two ministers seem to be at loggerheads with each as the country struggles hard to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. Vishvendra Singh and Dr. Subhash Garg, both ministers in the Congress-led state government, do not appear to enjoy a cordial relationship. They have been at each other’s throat in the past as well. Dr Subhash Garg is a Rashtriya Lok Dal MLA representing Bharatpur constituency.

Earlier, Vishvendra Singh had quote-tweeted a Zee News tweet which said that he was working on the ground while the local Bharatpur MLA, Dr. Subhash Garg, was busy in meetings. The tweet had said, “Instead of being with the public at a difficult time, the minister @drsubhashg is playing meeting-meeting while minister @vishvendrabtp is working on the ground, talking about working at ground zero.”

Vishvendra Singh also accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of trying to cover-up the matter. He said that he was a cabinet minister and does not speak without proof.

A glance at Singh’s timeline shows how the fight has been brewing since a while. Their differences got media attention even during Bharatpur Municipal Corporation elections held last year. He has been taking digs at Dr Subhash Garg on social media even before the recent incident.

He retweeted a tweet praising himself and criticising Garg during the coronavirus outbreak.

In fact, if you notice, even in his original tweet where he shared the news of the pregnant Muslim woman, he had taken a dig at Dr Subhash Garg, RLD MLA of Bharatpur.

Many on social media also speculated that the story about Muslim Pregnant woman’s health issue was given a communal colour because of the infighting.

There appears to be some conflict underway within the Rajasthan Government. While it is unclear as of now whether the conflict within the party contributed to the death of the child, it definitely does appear to be a case of infighting where the woman was dragged into for a political one-upmanship.

Old video of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi goes viral on social media falsely claiming they defied lockdown rules

OpIndia Staff
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Old video of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi goes viral on social media falsely claiming they defied lockdown rules

A video has gone viral on social media claiming that Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi deliberately violated lockdown regulations to visit their friends. The video in which Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were spotted sitting in the rear seat of a car was shared widely on social media to imply that they had defied the lockdown rules to roam around freely.

Some social media users also claimed that the Gandhi-scions were violating Section 144 at a time when the entire nation is locked down due to the Chinese pandemic COVID-19.

However, in reality, the video which has been widely shared across the social media platforms to accuse Gandhis of deliberately defying lockdown rules is not a recent one.

The video is from December 24, 2019, when Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had visited Meerut to meet families of those killed in violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The incident was reported by mainstream most of the media and the video was also shared by the official Twitter handle of the Congress party.

In the video shared by the Congress, a policeman can be heard asking Rahul and Priyanka to return due to restrictions which had been imposed after the riots. Congress party claimed that they had offered to travel in a group of 3 people, to comply with restrictions under section 144 of the IPC, but they were still not allowed to go.

Therefore, the viral video which has been shared widely was captured in December 2019 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and it is not connected with the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

30-year-old man shot dead in Prayagraj over remarks on Tablighi Jamaat’s role in spreading coronavirus, accused Md Sona nabbed

OpIndia Staff
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30-year-old man shot dead in Prayagraj over remarks on Tablighi Jamaat’s role in spreading coronavirus, accused Md Sona nabbed

On Sunday, a 30-year-old man named Lotan Nishad was shot dead by one Mohammed Sona in the Bakshi Moda area in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh for accusing the Islamic Missionary Movement, Tablighi Jamaat, of endangering the lives of other people. Nishad was shot while he sitting at a tea shop, and he died on the spot.

Lotan Nishad was sitting at a tea shop in the village at around 9.30 am. While reading the morning newspaper, he got into a verbal confrontation, over the role of Tablighi Jamaat in transmitting the Wuhan Coronavirus, with some people sitting there. Mohammad Sona, who was present there, began assaulting the victim. After sometime Sona brought a gun and fired at him from close range. Nishad fell on the ground and started bleeding.

Sona tried to escape but he was overpowered by the villagers. Lotan was rushed to a nearby hospital but he had died by then. After receiving the information, the cops reached the crime scene. The matter is now being investigated. Two, including the accused Sona and his father Qadir, have been arrested under the National Security Act (NSA). The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, had announced a compensation of ₹5,00,000 for the family of the victim.

The police have recovered a licensed gun from the house of the accused. According to police, preliminary investigation suggests that Sona killed Nishad because Nishad had blamed the Tablighi Jamaat of spreading Coronavirus in the country. Police forces have been deployed in the area to prevent any communal tension due to the incident.

Earlier, a man was assaulted by a mob in Maharashtra’s Solapur district for informing local authorities about those who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi. According to the reports, the 56-year-old man had informed the village ‘Gramsevak’ in Pimpri that about seven locals had attended the Tablighi meet in Delhi’s Nizamuddin and had recently returned to the village. He had insisted that they should be tested for coronavirus. Following this, Tablighi Jamaat attendees in the village were angered by this disclosure of information and attacked the man on Tuesday.

‘Govt wants to kill us’: Tablighi Jamaat attendees create ruckus at Ahmedabad hospital, Muslim doctor had to intervene to explain

OpIndia Staff
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‘Govt wants to kill us’: Tablighi Jamaat attendees create ruckus at Ahmedabad hospital, Muslim doctor had to intervene to explain

Tablighi Jamaat attendees at Ahmedabad’s Sola Civil Hospital created a ruckus and refused to take medicines or injections claiming that the government wants to kill them. As reported by Divya Bhaskar, the Jamaatis accused that they were being held against their will and gathered around in a corner.

As per the report, 26 Tablighi Jamaat attendees were brought from Dariyapur to Sola Civil Hospital on Friday and were kept in an isolation ward. When the medical team tried to test them, they refused and created a ruckus. Following this, the hospital’s superintendent had to call a Muslim doctor. After five hours of high voltage drama, the Jamaatis relented after being counselled by the Muslim doctor.

The Sola Hospital officer, on condition of anonymity, told Divya Bhaskar that of the 26 attendees who were brought to the hospital, two are from Ahmedabad, 1 from Valsad while 9 are from Muzaffarnagar, UP and 10 are from UP’s Azamgarh and Hyderabad. Of these, one is diabetic and 6 are minors. When the doctor started to conduct tests on them, they refused claiming that they suspect the doctors are trying to kill them.

After hours of creating a ruckus, hospital administration requested appointment of a Muslim doctor so that he could come and counsel them. At 5 PM, district magistrate appointed a Muslim doctor from Dholka who counselled the Jamaatis for an hour. The Muslim doctor explained that the government does not want to kill them but wants to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Gujarat, like rest of India, has seen an increase in COVID-19 positive cases after the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat attendees were traced. On Sunday, 10 new cases were registered in Gujarat, all of which were linked to Jamaat.

Days after attacking medical team to prevent the screening of residents, Tatpatti Bhakhal area in Indore reports 12 confirmed Coronavirus cases

OpIndia Staff
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Days after attacking medical team to prevent the screening of residents, Tatpatti Bhakhal area in Indore reports 12 confirmed Coronavirus cases

Twelve new cases of Wuhan Coronavirus infection have come to light in the Tatpatti Bakhal area in Indore, where a medical team that had gone to check on a patient with suspected coronavirus symptoms was attacked and pelted with stones on April 1.

Despite the attack, the medical team had returned to the area next day and had continued health check of the residents in the presence of police officials. The administration and health staff had quarantined 68 people there. After investigation, it is revealed that 12 of these people are infected with Wuhan Coronavirus. They have been admitted at the MRTB Hospital for treatment.

As per reports, the gathered mob had viciously attacked the team of health workers and had even thrown stones from nearby rooftops. When the medical team sought help from the police, the police team was attacked too. The gathered mob had also broken down the barricades and used the women among them as human shields when the police tried to take action.

A doctor informed that they had gone for screening as directed by authorities and have been doing so for the past three days. The team had gone after they found a history of someone getting in touch with a COVID-19 positive person. “As soon as we started asking, they started throwing stones at us,” the doctor informs. The doctor further states that because they had the police force and others along with them, they were saved.

A police officer while speaking to the media said that an old lady was to be taken for medical tests but people started opposing. Soon, a crowd gathered. Following this, the police were called upon. The mob then directed the authorities that before anyone from the locality is taken for medical tests, they should be first informed. On Saturday, Indore had reported 16 cases of COVID-19. Three people who died of the pandemic were from the Tatpatti Bakhal area.

Despite all this, women doctors led a team of medical staff to the same area on April 3. They were accompanied by administrative authorities and the police. Dr. Zakiya Sayed said, “We have sustained injuries but we have to do our job and will not be scared.” People in the area were seen apologising to the medics for their violent behaviour on Wednesday.

Alt News waters down man spitting on fruits he was selling, claims since the video is from February the ‘mentally unstable’ man is not trying to spread coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Alt News waters down man spitting on fruits he was selling, claims since the video is from February the ‘mentally unstable’ man is not trying to spread coronavirus

So-called fact-checker website Alt News, which is infamous for absolving crimes committed by Muslim in an effort to gratify its fellow rabid Islamists, has yet again caught pants down publishing misinformation on social media.

The controversial propaganda site has yet again attempted to tone down the shocking incident in Madhya Pradesh where a Muslim fruit vendor was seen licking the fruits before selling it to the customer.

The Case:

In the video, dated February 16, a Muslim fruit vendor in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh, was seen arranging a variety of fruits on his cart in the middle of a market place. While arranging the fruits on the cart, the vendor was seen picking up the fruit one at a time. And each time he picked up a fruit to arrange in the cart, he first purposely licked his hand and then used the hand, smeared with his saliva, to pick up the fruits and re-arrange on his cart. He purposely contaminated the fruits which he would eventually be selling it to his customers.

The video posted by an individual named Bodhraj had stated that he along his friend was sitting in a local pan shop at around 5 pm on 16th February, when he saw the accused, Sheru Miyan (as he was referred to) deliberately contaminating the fruits with his saliva before he sold it to his customers. Bodhraj claims that he shot a video of Sheru indulging in this disgraceful act on his mobile phone and lodged a complaint with the police.

Following this shocking incident, an FIR was filed against the Sheru Miyan in Madhya Pradesh under IPC 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) on April 3, and he was arrested by police.

Soon, the daughter of the man in question came to her father’s rescue stating that the mental health of her father was not sound and he did it unintentionally. She claimed that her father was licking his fingers due to his habit of counting notes. She also suggested conspiracy behind releasing the two months old video now. She accused that the video has been released now due to the current situation.

However, the video was shot on February 16 during the critical time when the country was already ravaged with the outbreak of the Coronavirus. The viral video had caused a huge scare after it was revealed that many people were intentionally trying to spread the infection by indulging in such shameful acts.

The false claim by Alt News:

The ultra-left wing propaganda Alt News, which often tries absolve crimes committed by Muslims, jumped on to the scene to peddle its usual rhetoric on the incident. In a self-proclaimed fact-check report, the Alt News came to the rescue of the fruit seller by claiming that the incident dated back to February 16 and at a time the incident had occurred, the government had not yet declared the outbreak as a notified disaster. 

According to Alt News, the government declared the outbreak of the COVID-19 only on March 14. In other words, the Chinese pandemic, according to Alt News, only started on and after March 14 in the country.

Alt News report.

Continuing its illogical claims to absolve Khan’s act, Alt News stated that the first coronavirus positive case in Madhya Pradesh was reported only on March 20 while the act in which Khan was caught licking the fruits dated to at least a month back. Through such absurd observations, the self-proclaimed fact-checking portal declared that the video of Muslim vendor’s unhygienic handling of fruits falsely linked with spreading coronavirus.

Fact Check:

The defence put up by Alt News to declare that Khan was not indulging in any alleged activity of transmitting the virus comes from the claim that the Indian government had not declared the outbreak as a notified disaster only on March 14. However, in reality, ever since the Chinese coronavirus was notified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation on January 30, the Modi government has been on a war footing to spread awareness about the diseases and the necessary precautions to be taken to limit the spread.

To justify the horrific act by stating that there was no official declaration from the Modi government regarding the spread of COVID-19 in the country until March 14 is just farcical. According to Alt News, the COVID-19 only entered the country on March 14, as that was the day government of India had notified the spread of Chinese pandemic.

Alt News also says, “the vendor’s act was unarguably unhygienic however the issue has been grossly twisted on social media”, which is nothing but a gross underplaying of the incident. Contaminating food items is not only an unhygienic practice, it is also a criminal offence. The fruit vendor was booked under IPC 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), which as existing sections of the Indian Penal Code. No matter whether there is an ongoing pandemic or not, what the man was doing was a serious crime.

Moreover, the daughter’s claim suggests that the family knew that the man was contaminating the fruits he was selling, and they still allowed him to sell food items. He may not have coronavirus as it had not spread to the town at that time, but he may have other diseases which he may be spreading to others, including ill people as fruits are often recommended as healthy food for ailing people.

Although it is true that the video was shot in February 16th, there is no proof that it was the only such incident. In fact, the daughter’s claim that her father is mentally unstable and he does it for the habit of counting notes, suggests that he has done it before, and done it after also, when the COVID-19 had spread to the area. Therefore, there is in fact a real risk of spreading the Chinese virus, along with any other pathogen he may be potentially infected with.

Just because the video is six weeks old, ‘fact-checker’ Alt News concluded that it was the single incident, while his own family’s comments suggest that he does it regularly.

The faulty ‘fact-checker’ Alt News, funded by anti-India elements, has a track record of pushing misinformation on social media platforms to push their ideological narrative.

Just weeks back, Alt News Director Nirjhari Sinha had caught sharing old unrelated images to express her disapproval of PM Modi’s decision to lock down the country. Ms Sinha had tweeted a photo of a seemingly destitute and homeless family with a caption “What is the PM’s message for them? Stay at home..don’t venture out!” to target PM Modi’s lockdown initiative. However, the image was not connected to the current lockdown but an image captured in 2016.

Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha, who is otherwise known for stalking people on social media, had also caught sharing misinformation and lies about India’s readiness to fight Wuhan coronavirus to cast the Indian government in a bad light. 

Earlier, Alt News had also given a clean chit to anti-Hindu riots accused AAP leader Tahir Hussain and also Jamia rioters who had unleashed violence during the riots despite there was sufficient evidence to prove their culpability. With Alt News indulging in such third-rated propaganda, the promoters of the ultra-left wing portal had to face severe ridicule across social media platforms.

Diplomacy fail: China sells back PPEs to Italy which the European country had donated it when the coronavirus was at its peak

OpIndia Staff
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Diplomacy fail: China sells back PPEs to Italy which the European country had donated it when the coronavirus was at its peak

After selling defective masks and testing kits to the world to combat their home-grown virus, China has now reached a new low by selling back the PPEs (personal protection equipments) to Italy which the European country had originally donated as humanitarian gesture. As reported Spectator magazine, China had earlier claimed that it will send PPEs to Italy, which has lately emerged as the hot spot for the Chinese coronavirus outbreak, to help it contain it.

However, now the reports reveal that China had sold, and not donated, those PPEs to Italy. Not only that, China actually forced Italy to buy back the same PPEs that Italy had donated to the Communist country.

The Chinese coronavirus originated in Wuhan in Hubei province of China as early as November 2019. However, China and WHO downplayed the same by maintaining that the human-to-human spread of coronavirus was not medically proven. It was only after it was too late that the truth came out. By now, over 12 lakh people across the globe have tested positive and over 64,000 have lost their lives.

Read: One Belt, One Road, One Pandemic: Are China and WHO accountable for spreading the Novel coronavirus across the world?

This is not the first time China has been a diplomacy nightmare in wake of Wuhan coronavirus. Earlier, many of the testing kits as well as masks sent by China to other countries were found defective and faulty. Spain had even returned 50,000 testing kits after they were found faulty. Moreover, instead of owning up the responsibility, China pushed the blame on others.

The Guardian’s biased coverage: Calls India’s lockdown ‘brutal’ but deems Britain’s ‘necessary hardship’, urged Trump to impose a lockdown and gives Australia a free pass

OpIndia Staff
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The Guardian’s biased coverage: Calls India’s lockdown ‘brutal’ but deems Britain’s ‘necessary hardship’, urged Trump to impose a lockdown and gives Australia a free pass

The Western Media is known to peddle negative propaganda against India. In their bid to undermine the NDA government at the center, they regularly publish reports geared towards tarnishing India’s reputation. Western Media often singles India out for negative coverage even when India does precisely the same as a lot of other countries. It was most prominent during United Kingdom-based The Guardian’s coverage of India’s lockdown.

On Saturday, Twitter use @AnkiitKoomar posted a tweet that showed The Guardian’s headlines for reports or opinion pieces published on its website regarding lockdown in Australia, India and the United States of America. The difference in the newspaper’s headlines for the same policy approach lays bare the stark reality of the media’s slanted coverage of India.

On the 4th of April, The Guardian published a report titled “‘I just want to go home’: the desperate millions hit by Modi’s brutal lockdown”. The report said, “The consequences for India, where tens of millions live in poverty, work thousands of miles from home, often living where they work, have been cataclysmic.” While it is true that the lockdown has affected the livelihood of a great many, most prominently the migrant labourers, there is no other way to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus crisis. Lots of other countries have gone into lockdown as well in order to combat the pandemic. Therefore, such proclamations regarding the actions of the Indian Government appear undue as it did not have too many choices to choose from.

Screensht of The Guardian report (Source: @AnkiitKoomar/Twitter)

Amusingly enough, on the 25th of March, The Guardian published an opinion piece addressing US President Donald Trump with the headline, “To beat the coronavirus slump, shut us down now, Mr President”. The author argued, “The economic situation, in my opinion, will only get worse the longer the pandemic is allowed to progress. Most small businesses will not be able to make it to the summer. Even if they’re allowed to reopen, without the public being confident that the virus has been fully contained and that a treatment is either available or on the way, consumers and diners will stay away. “Self-quarantines” and localized shutdowns aren’t going to work fast enough. So what’s the answer? A full shutdown in the US. For three full weeks.”

Opinion Piece on The Guardian calling on the US President to enforce a lockdown (Source: @AnkiitKoomar

The Guardian also published a report on the 24th of March regarding the Australian Prime Minister’s ordered a shutdown of large sections of the country’s economy and social life as he urged his citizens to ‘stay at home’. The report said, “With hundreds of thousands facing unemployment, the federal government has suspended mutual obligations to apply for jobs to obtain jobseeker payments for one week, with further measures to protect renters now expected to be decided on Wednesday not Tuesday, as planned.”

The report on The Guardian regarding the Australian PM’s announcement of a shutdown (Source: @AnkiitKoomar/Twitter)

The most intriguing of all, perhaps, was The Guardian view on the United Kingdom’s decision to impose a lockdown within its own territory. The newspaper called the lockdown “necessary hardship”. It noted in the editorial published on the 23rd of March, “However well-intentioned, a laissez-faire strategy for fighting coronavirus has not worked. Now is the right time for the government to give the public clarity and firm parameters”.

Read: Festivals and political opportunism of media: ‘The Guardian’ and its anti-Hindu agenda

The editorial stated further, “It was imperative that Boris Johnson abandoned the register of exhortation and issued clear instructions that will be enforced, thereby instituting a lockdown. A laissez-faire approach to fighting a pandemic did not work.”

Source: The Guardian

While The Guardian was wise enough to recognize that the hardships for the citizenry that the lockdown has brought about was ‘necessary’ in order to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, it does not afford Narendra Modi the same courtesy. In fact, it goes out of its way to call India’s nationwide lockdown ‘brutal’ while reserving no such criticism for even the Australian Prime Minister. Furthermore, it published an opinion piece urging the US President to impose a lockdown in the United States in order to save the country from ruin. Thus, The Guardian’s motivated agenda against India and the Narendra Modi-led government becomes evidently clear from its coverage of the lockdown in the abovementioned countries.

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