Aaj Ki Baat April 21
Today I want to share a disturbing news with you. India TV reporter Manish Prasad had gone to Delhi's LNJP Hospital when a lady health worker Asha, who works in the medicine department, watched his channel mike and came near him. Asha told him, she wanted to narrate an incident that took place when some Tablighi Jamaat workers literally manhandled her.
These Jamaat workers had been shifted from Nizamuddin Markaz to the quarantine center in Sultanpuri last month. They were brought to LNJP hospital for Coronavirus screening when the incident took place.
Inside the isolation ward, when she brought a meal for the Jamaat workers, they started abusing her. One of the workers caught hold of her neck and tried to force her to eat. The Jamaat workers tore off her PPE cover. Asha had to run out of the ward fearing for her life. The lady health worker said there were no video or audio recordings of the incident, but she wanted to tell the whole world how she was manhandled.
Hats off to Asha, who, despite this ugly incident, continues to take care of the Jamaat patients. She told India TV that initially she was skeptical about news on TV channels about the behaviour of Jamaat workers, but after she was manhandled, she changed her mind.
I want to ask Tablighi Jamaat workers and their chief Maulana Saad some questions: what was Asha's mistake? Was it her mistake that the meal she was serving was not to the taste of the Jamaat workers? Is it her mistake that she still continues to serve the Jamaat patients with the same dedication that she had shown earlier? I would request the Maulana and his workers to watch her interview on India TV in full and then respond. They must tell the nation why Jamaat workers misbehaved with doctors, nurses and other health staff.
Two or three days back, I had shown reports of how Jamaat workers in Indore and other places praised the doctors and nurses after they came out of hospitals. I was under the impression that Jamaat workers have changed their behaviour, but watching Asha's interview, I decided to show this to all our viewers so that they must know under what circumstances our doctors and nurses are working.
Asha Devi was alone when this incident took place, but Jamaat leaders must understand there is One above all of us. Almighty is watching and a day will come when these people will have to answer for their sins.
It is because of Tablighi Jamaat that almost 50 per cent cases in Delhi, nearly 90 per cent cases in Tamil Nadu and nearly 60 per cent cases in Telangana relate to their workers and their contacts. In Uttar Pradesh, out of 1337 Coronavirus cases detected, more than half (668) patients are related to the Jamaat. The situation is similar in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Jamaat workers, who went underground, are still being arrested in Prayagraj, Rae Bareli and Moradabad in UP. Already the lockdown is into its 29th day and the Jamaat workers are still in hiding. Police are trying to trace them from their hiding places and mosques.
Some people have been asking why Tablighi Jamaat is being singled out on news channels in stories relating to Coronavirus. The question surprises me.
The fact is, thousands of Tablighi Jamaat workers had taken part in the Nizamuddin Markaz gathering. The fact is, the Jamaat workers went across the length and breadth of India, and were found to be carriers of the dreaded virus, otherwise India's Coronavirus statistics today could have been different, and on the lesser side.
If Nizamuddin Markaz was the origin from where the virus travelled through carriers from Delhi to UP, to MP, to Telangana and Tamil Nadu, why should we refrain from saying so? If Tablighi Jamaat workers manhandle doctors and nurses in hospitals, create ugly scenes inside quarantine centers, why shouldn't we name them?
Let me cite some examples. On Tuesday, there was news of a 36-year-old doctor Niyamuddin dying of coronavirus in Moradabad. He was part of the team that had surveyed Nizamuddin Markaz. Should we suppress this fact? Fifty-seven out of 102 coronavirus cases in Noida related to Ceasefire company. Should we stop naming the company? In Bihar's Nalanda, it was one man who passed on the virus to 16 family members. Should we refrain from saying that this man passed on the Coronavirus?
Many Islamic leaders have told me that it was because of one organisation that an entire community is being subjected to infamy. Maulans and ulmas agree that the ideal situation would have been that Maulana Saad should have come out of hiding and should have appealed to his workers to cooperate with the authorities and undergo screening and treatment. People would then have appreciated the Jamaat's role.
The unpalatable truth is that the Jamaat chief and his workers are still in hiding, medical teams and police are still being subjected to stoning and abuses, and healthcare workers who go for quarantine are forced to leave localities. The Jamaat chief could at least learn from some of his workers, who after recovering from Coronavirus, are openly praising the doctors and nurses who saved their lives.
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India’s Number One and the most followed Super Prime Time News Show ‘Aaj Ki Baat – Rajat Sharma Ke Saath’ was launched just before the 2014 General Elections. Since its inception, the show is redefining India’s super-prime time and is numerically far ahead of its contemporaries.
