Don't communalise coronavirus crisis: CPI(M)

The CPI(M) on Thursday said that the coronavirus crisis should not be communalised and slammed both the Tablighi Jamaat as well as state authorities for allowing a mass gathering during the pandemic.

Six people who died in Telangana and one in Jammu and Kashmir had attended the religious congregation in Nizamuddin area here. In Delhi alone, 24 participants tested positive for the disease. By Wednesday morning, a total of 2,346 persons were evacuated from the centre, of whom 536 were hospitalised, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

In a statement the party said that all big gatherings, social, religious and political, that have been held in many parts of the country after the March 13 order prohibiting assembly of more than 200 people must be investigated thoroughly.

"It was irresponsible on the part of the Jamaat leadership to have organised the meeting in mid-March when restrictions were already in place about size of gatherings. It is also inexplicable how the authorities allowed a second gathering on March 20-21.

"The CPI (M) condemns the efforts and the campaign on social media to give this a communal color and to target a community. The coronavirus does not differentiate on the basis of religion. All efforts to communalise the issue must be rebuffed. We must learn from South Korea and Singapore in meticulously tracing all those attending large congregations, isolating them after aggressive testing and containing the community spread of COVID-19. India today has a very low testing rate i.e. 241 times lower than South Korea. This must be rectified urgently," the statement said.

It also said that efforts to communalise the fight against coronavirus will only undermine the triumph in containing the virus and will be self-defeating and all efforts must be made by the government to end the spread of such dangerous communal polarisation. 

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