Covid-19, and propagating communal hatred indiscriminately

Tikender Singh Panwar

“Musalmaan ko apne nazdik mat aane dijiye” (Do not allow a Muslim to come near you). I received this startling message on the phone from my grocery shop owner who had just a few hours ago sent supplies to my house. The groceries had been carried on the back by none other than a Kashmiri Muslim (In Shimla, since a large number of roads are non-motorable and because of the ongoing curfew, goods are often carried on the back, and Kashmiri porters have been doing it for the past century). I am sure the shopkeeper had sent such messages to hundreds of other customers too.

For a moment I was completely shaken because I have known Shimla since my childhood, and have also served it for five years as deputy mayor. I could not have imagined such a message being shared with anyone in the town, and particularly with me; never! And, why I am so disturbed over this message is because the Kashmiri migrants, most of who are porters, have an interesting fiduciary relationship with some of the arhityas (commission agents) and other traders in Shimla. Most of these arhityas are staunch supporters of the BJP, but the Kashmiri migrants have always trusted them as safe to keep their money with. They would take the money only when visiting home back in Kashmir. Never have I, or the organisations in which I have worked, ever received a complaint of fraud. That is the mutual trust that has been sustained since long. But with this message, it all seemed to have been shattered.

This showed the depth of the malaise and the campaign that communal forces in Shimla have been able to build over a period. It also demonstrated that to counter the failure of the BJP government in mitigating the crisis born out of Covid-19, the party and the Sangh have unleashed a most brazen campaign to divert people’s attention from the main issue.

Social media is rife with an unabashed campaign to paint Muslims as demons; as if the spread of Covid-19 is only because of them. This at a time when there is anxiety and fear among the medical fraternity over the failure of the government to provide the bare minimum equipment and gear required by the frontline warriors in the fight against Covid-19. Medical workers have even expressed their fears on social media. It cannot be papered over by banging plates or lighting candles. The Sangh Parivar knows it well; and hence the vicious campaign.

The Resident Doctors Associations of VMMC & Safdarjung hospitals in Delhi have released a “To whom it may concern” letter, urging the general public to contribute and provide protective equipment and other consumables. The letter states, “We have approx 500 faculty members, 1,700 resident doctors and 2,000 nursing staff. Also, the entire 807 bedded super-specialty block (SSB) has recently been converted into Covid-19 block”. They have asked for 50,000 PPE kits (Hazmat suits), 50,000 N-95 masks, 3,00,000 triple-layer masks, and 10,000 hand sanitiser (500 ml) bottles. I wonder if it would have made more sense if the PM, instead of speaking of the spirit to combat Covid-19 in his April 3 address, had mentioned the real spirit to be made available in the hospitals for hand sanitisers.

The RDA letter is an eye-opener. There are hundreds of such hospitals screaming for basic equipment, the lack of which could cost medical personnel their lives. Some doctors at Hindu Rao Hospital, Delhi, have said they could resign rather than become victims of the inept system.

It is high time the government turned proactive in procuring the requirements of hospitals and put down with a heavy hand all kinds of communal propaganda. The PM has to instil confidence among the people that the government stands solidly behind them. That confidence cannot come merely from television addresses and rhetoric. Concrete actions have to be taken on the ground.

Meanwhile, the particular shop owner has been struck off my list of preferred grocery stores.

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