india

Updated: Apr 03, 2020 13:03 IST

The Shiv Sena has criticized the Nizamuddin congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat members held in violation of the restrictions imposed on mass gatherings in view of the threat of Covid-19 community transmissions. The party which rules Maharasthra in coalition with the Congress and NCP, on Friday described the congregation, which has become a major source of infections across the country as “inhuman” act and added that no religious or national purpose was solved by holding of such an event, said news agency PTI.

“What religious and national service have these people done by such a congregation in the name of Islam. In fact, it is inhuman and great disservice,” an excerpt quoted by the agency from editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana said.

It also referred to the two conflicting accounts of the violation by Jamaat members and added that it was difficult to ascertain who between the Delhi police and the Jamaat officials was right in this matter.

“What is truth only these two will know. But just like the police cleared the Shaheen Bagh protest area after the Delhi assembly polls, this event also could have been stopped using force,” the editorial said.

Delhi police said they had warned the Jamaat members in Nizamuddin against mass prayers and gatherings but the organisers claim they had been denied permission by the police to move out, forcing them to stay inside.

“This was a matter of national health and not religion. The Muslim community, too, would have supported such a move. Violating the lockdown is playing with other people’s lives,” the Saamna editorial quoted by PTI added.

Central government yesterday said that over 9,000 people including the Jamaat members and other individual who they came in contact with have been identified across states and quarantined. The government said that 334 of Jamaat members had been found positive and admitted to hospitals.

Sena mouthpiece highlighted the risk of transmission posed by such a huge religious gathering.

“The programme saw congregation of over 5,000 people from 22 states in the country and eight foreign countries. Out of the 5,000 participants, 2,000 were foreigners, it said.

Centre has begun action against the Jamaat and its leader Maulana Mohammad Saad, who has been booked under sections that punish offences that could lead to the worsening of an epidemic and for criminal conspiracy. Home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday the government has blacklisted 960 foreigners for their involvement in activities with the group while they were in India on tourist visas.