All the so-called “secular” Hindi news channels left no stone unturned to label the Tablighis as the coronavirus spreaders. Many of them ran never-ending TV debates accusing the tablighis for the increasing number of coronavirus cases specifically in Delhi. One newspaper even published a cartoon depicting the coronavirus as a terrorist in Muslim attire.
Those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizammuddin, New Delhi, were traced and put in quarantine. Their contacts were also traced and isolated. Electronic media played its role to exaggerate the matter out of proportion, paving the way for even more hate-mongering in an already “Hindu-Muslim” saturated atmosphere following the East Delhi riots.
The intellectuals termed it as “Islamophobia“, i.e. fear, hatred and prejudice against the Muslims or Islamic religion. Physical, verbal and psychological attacks on Muslims has further pushed their oppression to a new limit. In a flood of twitter campaigns with Islamophobic hashtags, the muslims were continuously accused of spreading the virus purposefully. Since, this particular cluster of tablighis was tested rapidly with the overall testing rate being very low, it is apparent that a large chunk of these positive cases is attributed to this cluster. “Corona Jihad” was another term that was associated with the members who attended the Tablighi Jamaat.
While the hate-mongering was at its peak, the news that the tablighis recovered from COVID-19 are donating blood plasma for the blood plasma therapy, which is being perceived as a viable treatment to cure the coronavirus, came as a shock for those spreading hate and trying to give this pandemic a communal colour.
A patient who has recovered from an illness have antibodies in their blood plasma, i.e. the liquid part of their blood. With the convalescent plasma therapy, the plasma is purified and injected into the ailing patient, which provides a “passive immunity” to the patient until the patient’s body is able to produce its own antibodies. When given to a susceptible person, this antibody will circulate in the blood, reach tissues, and provide protection against infection.
Jamaat chief Maulana Saad Kandhavli, booked for culpable homicide after thousands of attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin tested positive for COVID-19, has appealed to COVID-19 survivors from the Muslim community to donate blood plasma for the treatment of other patients.
According to sources, out of 1,068 coronavirus positive tablighis in Delhi hospitals, around 300 (who have recovered after testing double negative) have decided to donate plasma to severely ill patients in the capital. As the government is struggling to find donors for plasma therapy, this seems to be a ray of hope in fighting the COVID-19 battle.