In a blatant attempt to communalise the coronavirus pandemic, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has named eight out of 18 coronavirus hotspots in Lucknow after mosques.
Masjid Ali Jaan Cantonment, Mohammadi Masjid under Wazirganj police station, Phoolbagh Masjid and Nazarbagh Masjid under Kaiserbagh police station, area near Mohmmadiya Masjid under Shahadatganj police station, area near Pir Makka Masjid under Talkatora station, Triveni Nagar, Rajauli Masjid under Gudamba station are all the areas named after mosques.
“The government should be concerned about fighting the disease. It should focus on pinpointing those areas from where more cases are coming. But unable to tackle that it is busy fudging numbers, and to divert people’s attention it is linking it to religious issues so that people won’t focus on the ground situation. It is discriminatory to link the illness to one specific community,” ThePrint quoted the UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu as saying.
“This is nothing but an attempt to create an impression that Muslims are behind the spread of Covid-19. Even today Tablighi Jamaat is shown as the major reason behind the surge in cases. The areas that have been labelled as hotspots include both Muslim and Hindu communities. When areas are not being named after temples or churches, why are they being named after mosques?” asked one resident living in one of the hotspots.
Ever since the Markaz Nizamuddin incident, there has been a swathe of fake and malicious news published against Muslims, leading to attacks against the community across the country.
The mainstream media has repeatedly called the coronavirus as ‘Corona Jihad’, insinuating a Muslim-led conspiracy behind its spread. There has been a deliberate attempt made both by the media, right-wing hate mongers on social media and BJP legislators to blame the spread of the pandemic on Muslims.
Meanwhile, the administration has denied these claims and stated that the mosques were only named due to the presence of positive cases. As of now, Lucknow has reported 214 Covid cases with 8 new positive cases on Friday.
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