The Nizamuddin Markaz building, the global headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat was opened for Shab-e-Barat prayers on Sunday, nearly a year after it was shut down, with the number of permitted visitors limited at 50.
The 50 people allowed to offer prayers in the Markaz were chosen by the Waqf board. On Sunday, policemen on duty verified the names of the people who were allowed to enter the masjid.
The Markaz building had been locked since March last year after several people who attended a Tablighi Jamaat congregation there contracted COVID-19. In many states, members of the Jamaat, who attended the congregation were sent to jail.
Ever since the March gathering, the overwhelming section of the media gave a communal angle in the coverage to vilify Tablighi Jamaat followers and Muslims at large. There has been rampant disinformation and a tsunami of fake news attributing old and often unrelated incidents to Muslim, blaming them of a conspiracy to spread the pandemic.
News channels and even some politicians from the ruling BJP have maliciously termed the coronavirus pandemic as ‘Corona Jihad’, ‘Terrorist Virus’, insinuating a Muslim-led conspiracy behind its spread.
One Jamaat member who visited the Markaz on Sunday told The Indian Express that the decision is good but more people should have been allowed. “We are happy to obey rules but there should be stricter implementation in gatherings across India during elections, where social distancing is being ignored.”
“The media declared us human bombs when the fact was that people here were trapped like at many other places across the world due to sudden lockdown”, he added.
The submission to permit some individuals to offer prayers were made by senior advocate Ramesh Gupta and advocate Wajeeh Shafiq. The request filed stated that only the mosque would be used and not the madrasa located inside.
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