Tablighi Jamaat & Migrant Labour: Issues to Ponder beyond the Wuhan Virus

Last week was dominated by two news stories. One the tragic exodus of migrant labour and harsh times they faced. Second was wilful defiance of the lockdown by Tabhleegi Jamaat in Delhi leading to a virtual cluster bombing of India by ignorant blind followers of extreme Islam, as Smita Prakash put it.

Two incidents were worrying on different counts. First one showed the brittle nature of our economic success that has left poor unprotected and uncertain and scared of their future, in spite of special economic packages since the last 5 years that attempt to reach out to the last person in the queue. This unfortunate development also showed the power of opposition leaders to derail the fight against the biggest threat to humanity easily with rumours and slight nudge and wink.

Tablighi defiance despite rejection of their application by the local police station, and later call to police station to ‘persuade’ them to cancel the event, subsequent deputing NSA to talk to a law breaking religious leader showed the soft underbelly of Indian state when it comes to a minority that, as Allahabad High Court noted, is no more a minority. It is the second biggest majority in India. This was subsequent to the disastrous softness in the case of Shaheen Bagh even during Wuhan Virus breakout, that evolved into multiple Baghs across India due to perceived weakness of the state machinery of virtually every state except Uttar Pradesh.

If I were to point out a common link between the two apparently unlinked events, I might be called a conspiracy theorist. But, is it theory, or a fact? The media of a certain persuasion played a crucial role in both these anarchic events. The story of migrant labourers exodus was well produced by the ultimate low politician of India, crafted well and spread like wildfire by obliging well paid media, before the government at the Centre caught on to it. No doubt, it also was an intelligence failure, but the time lapse between the commandeering of the buses and appearance of stories shows a pre-designed joint venture.

Similarly, the support of the usual ‘secular’ suspects to the Tabhleegi Jamaat flouting the law and apportioning the blame to the central government showed that the fourth column of our democracy is compromised. The days when our Wuhan infection graph could have begun to flatten, ended up as ones that saw a huge spike.

Now, we see shocking news of attacks on police in Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. We see these Tablighis spitting at police, coughing at medical staff in masochist drowsiness. I am dumb founded at the justifications being dished out to justify all this. A journalist on a reputed portal has asked for compassion for these hate filled bigots.

Just after the Delhi elections, I had called the Shaheen Bagh agitation as a model for future destabilising efforts. Based on observing the delighted leaders of the Red, Green and secular brigade that contains elements from both the extremes. They loved Shaheen Bagh, they loved CAA and saw their return in this formula. Crystallising this idea was the support extended to anti-CAA protests by dominant Catholic Church, Sikh groups and Congress who populate so called secular space; though the law supported persecuted Sikhs and Christians and was not against Indian Muslims. AntiCAA agitation was the classical Marxist-Congress tutored biggest misinformation campaign in independent India. Who can forget the President of Congress Party and her minions calling for “Aar paar ki ladai ” (fight to finish) and exhorting people to hit the roads.

What we are fighting today is not just the Wuhan virus, but anti-India virus. It is a new strain of virus that has been engineered with different strains of Marxism, Islamism, and distorted Secularism. This strange axis of proclaimed rationalists and atheist Marxists with fundamentalist unchangeable anti-reforms Islam is most potently seen in Kerala. Earlier, in Bengal it was covert under Communists, limited to vote bank politics over illegal migrant votes, till Buddhadeb Bhattacharya honestly spoke against it. Then Mamata Banerjee hijacked these Islamist groups. Similar scenario is being replayed in Kerala now. Communists milked the fundamentalist financed by Saudi Arabian and Middle East expats. They kept quiet when PFI and SDPI wrought havoc to the social fabric of Kerala, smirking at the discomfiture of Hindus and Christians. Now, they find themselves confronting this demon, and Marxist CM of Kerala crying over it.

Wuhan Virus has exposed this cabal further. Were it not for this cabal, most of the Indians wouldn’t have known about silent but more dangerous Tablighi Jamaat that is the forerunner of violent strain of Islam that is ISIS. I call Tabhleegi Jamaat, ISIS without guns.

All through the madness of Tabhleegis, the left and secular brigade kept silent, infact, justified them; happy with the thought that this misguided section of Muslim community would destroy Modi’s credibility and the society, not realising that they were part of same society and they won’t be left untouched.

This bitterness is not sudden. The poison began oozing out in 2013 as these groups realised that they are losing the battle to Hindutva forces in 2014. The sustained efforts to blacken our nation’s name on international with false charges about Church attacks and Nuns’ rapes, lynching stories and unjustified abuse of Hindus and their traditions can be recalled easily. This is the last ditch battle. The Wuhan virus has come as another turn in the battle but for the soul of India, that has suffered for thousands of years. This axis knows now that it is losing, hence the stakes have been raised, last ditch battle launched.

This bitterness is not against Modi, but the idea of Bharat that Modi represents. It is against RSS, against Hindus and their belief in their rich heritage and a great past history that Marxists and Seculars have denied for decades. They are upset that their project seems to be failing despite heavy investment by the government and their own hard intellectual work to create a narrative that is contrary to the ancient wisdom that has survived through oral history, strong native memory and undeniable historical records that are being uncovered slowly over time.

But there is a brighter side to this dark tragedy of Wuhan Virus. This crisis has woken up the world to the beauty of the Hindu way of life. The world has realised that the only way to survive and live happily together is to adopt this culture – whether it is simple Namaste, or Yoga for better health, or giving importance to your family and get emotionally invested in it. People are realising that the only way to live happily on the planet is to respect nature, let other creatures live, turn more to organic and vegetarian life. Co-operating rather than competing.

It is the Hindu philosophy all the way that shows the path to universal brotherhood – respecting all viewpoints, not being exclusivist. Beyond Wuhan virus, we shall see the global rise of Hindutva – that is the essence of Hindu dharma – with people following religions of their choice, coexisting peacefully. Our anti-Hindu cabal in India needs to come out of its hate filled boroughs and see the rising Sun of dharma.