Viral Bigotry: Indian Muslims in Covid-19 Times

As the lockdown gets extended time and again, citizens must repeatedly remind themselves that not everyone is privileged enough to work from home In India, people from marginalised groups are the most affected by these lockdowns; be they migrant workers or daily wage labourers. There are repeated reports that these sections are starving because of the lockdown on all economic activities. Governments may be trying to provide food to the needy, but the provision is far from their requirement, which is why, civil society is pouring its resources into this effort in a big way.

The minority population is suffering on two fronts in India, one with the Covid-19 epidemic and two, from the spread of Islamophobia. The media is stigmatising the Muslims for spreading the virus, after members of one Muslim congregation tested positive for the infection. The entire community has been targeted by hate campaigns ever since then, on social media and on mainstream television. Now people have even started boycotting the Muslim in their localities.

This hatred is not new to India. Far-right groups, associates of the Hindu nationalist party Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), have been in power for the last six years at national level. They have been pushing their majoritarian agenda aggressively. Vigilante groups have been targeting Muslims based on their identity in the name of cow protection, or “love jihad”, and now for “Corona jihad”. In March, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, said in her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, “We are receiving reports that indicate increasing harassment and targeting of minorities—in particular Muslims and people from historically disadvantaged and marginalised groups, such as Dalits and Adivasis.” 

Despite being India’s biggest minority, the Muslims are far behind others in most socio-economic indicators. The official figure, according to the 2011 Census, is that Muslims constitute 14.2 % of the country’s population, which makes it around 172 million. But only 15% of Muslims have received higher education. In India, Muslims are mostly engaged in the informal sectors or, in particular, depend on self-employment to make a living. The recent assaults and harassment of members driven by prejudice, bigotry and hate-mongering will further marginalise the Muslims. In several instances, people have sought to ascertain the identity of street vendors selling vegetable or fruit. If found to be Muslim, the vendors have been boycotted. There are many instances of vendors even being physically harassed. Some Muslims vendors reported took on Hindu names to sell their goods and sustain their livelihood. But, then people sought their Aadhaar identity card—an act that certainly violates the law—the confirm their religion. In some places, vendors have complained against the harassment,  but ultimately marginalised groups are being pushed into more vulnerable situations.  

Muslims are also engaged in the meat business at different levels. While some work in or manage slaughterhouses, most run small businesses or trade and sell meat at the retail level. Soon after Covid-19 infections were detected in India, fake news was circulated through social media asking people to stop consuming meat, as one could supposedly contract the viral infection through this. The trade and commerce in meat has all but come to a complete halt. As a result, the livelihoods of thousands of Muslims, (as also of Hindus engaged in the trade), has been threatened. This happened even before India went into complete lockdown. The entire value chain of meat consumption and ancillary industries that depend on meat and its by-products has been affected by this silent boycott of Muslims. Afterwards, in many places, the government had to advertise in the media that eating meat does not cause this infection, but the damage had already been done.

The discrimination or hatred did not stop here. Muslims have been facing prejudice and unfair treatment at hospitals during this lockdown. Irfan Khan, an agricultural labourer from Sikri in Rajasthan, took his pregnant wife Parveen to the government-run District Hospital in Bharatpur. They were referred to another hospital in Jaipur, 180 km away. Their baby girl was born on the way and did not survive due to the cruel and hostile behaviour they confronted at the hospital. After reports appeared in the media, the local authorities ordered a probe into whether their religion was the reason why Khan and his wife were turned away. 

Reports from different part of Indian also narrate the inequity which Muslims are facing in order to avail of other health services. A newspaper in Odisha reported on 12 April that a doctor, Sayed Abul Hasan, who had served as a Medical officer at Kendrapara government Hospital in the state, died because the hospital denied him a dialysis that had been scheduled prior to the lockdown. He moved into another hospital, but only to face a fresh refusal, which ultimately led to his death. Similarly, another report from Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, said that the Civil Hospital segregated Covid-19 patients on the basis of religion, apparently at the request of some non-Muslim patients. The State Health Department denied the charge, but the cat was already out of the bag by then.

Practising prejudices and discrimination, whether by the state or any citizen, have been prohibited by provisions of the Indian Constitution, under Article 15 and 17 respectively. But as activist Farah Naqvi writes, the pandemic has opened up newer vistas of institutional apartheid against the minorities in India. 

Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, the first law minister who also headed the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution had said, “Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards our fellow citizen.” We are failing terribly in reverence, respect and hence in democracy. 

Tauqueer Ali Sabri is associated with various social action groups working for justice and peace. The views are personal.