The cases of COVID-19 in India has almost doubled in just four days. A large portion of this sudden spike is attributed to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, where thousands of people, including foreigners, gathered and stayed this month and fanned out in different parts of the country to carry out Chilla (proselytising) activities. While India is fast emerging as the biggest victim of Tablighi Jamaat’s transgressions, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has taken to Twitter to defend the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, who is accused of instigating the Muslims to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings.

Amanatullah Khan has also slammed Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan by calling them ‘Dalal’ (pimps) in his tweet.

Respectfully addressing Maulana Saad as “Saheb”, the AAP leader tweeted in Hindi: “Ab Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi aur Arif Mohammad Khan jaise dalal batayenge ki Nizamuddin Markaz kya hota hain aur Maulana Saad Saheb jaise bujurg kya hain…”, roughly translated as, “now pimps like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan will now teach us about Maulana Saad Saheb’s greatness… Maulana Saad Saheb spreads love and peace in the entire world”.

It is pertinent to note here, that both Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan had earlier in the day slammed the Tablighi Jamaat for the gross negligence. While Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that it committed a “Talibani crime” by allowing gatherings at its Nizammudin centre or Markaz in the capital, the Kerala Governor had hit out at the Muslim body, refusing to acknowledge its members as religious scholars.

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Probably irked by this, the AAP MLA through his tweet insinuated that people like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan have given a communal colour to Coronavirus. “In jaise logo ne Corona ko bhi Muslim bana diye”, (people like them have linked Corona to Muslims).

Snapshot of Amanatulla Khan’s original Tweet which was deleted

The AAP MLA had deleted the above tweet, only to retweet again after a few minutes with some changes in the text. But Khan has no qualms about his impudent remarks as his subsequent tweet was equally tendentious and partial.

Amanatulla Khan’s subsequent Tweet



The AAP leader has many times in the past been in news for his provocative and biased statements. Be it the recent Delhi anti-Hindu riots or the Jamia or Shaheen Bagh protests, Amanatullah Khan has always been in the forefront to consolidate the Muslim votebank for his party.

While more and more coronavirus cases in the country are being traced to the religious gathering in Delhi of the Islamic missionary sect Tablighi Jamaat, a hunt is on for its leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, last seen on March 28.

Maulana Saad has been charged by the police over allegations that he encouraged people to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings. He allegedly ignored two police notices to vacate the building.