As of Wednesday evening, 738 people in Tamil Nadu have COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the state Health Department. Out of this, the source of the disease in 679 people can be traced to a single place – the ijtema or prayer event held between March 8 and 21 by the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic organisation, at its Nizamuddin headquarters in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu health officials with the help of the state's police and intelligence have managed to trace and isolate 1,480 persons who attended the event. Health officials in Tamil Nadu had earlier estimated that 1,500 people from the state had attended the New Delhi meeting.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has said that 1,042 people from the state attended the conference and all of them have been traced – of whom 196 tested positive.
But while states like TN and Andhra have been able to trace and isolate most people who attended the conference – thereby containing the spread of the disease – this stands out in comparison to places like Delhi that are yet to trace all members; and Assam, where those who attended the meeting were allegedly attempting to conceal their travel history. So what explains the ability of the five southern states to trace a majority of Tablighi Jamaat members who attended the conference in less than two weeks? Perhaps, an ecosystem largely devoid of hate.
On March 31, Tamil Nadu had managed to identify only around 515 individuals who attended the New Delhi event, and there were many who were yet to be traced. It was then that Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami issued an appeal to the Tablighi Jamaat members: “We request those who travelled to New Delhi to come forward on their own, as we do not have their details. We assure that the best of treatments will be given to them.”
The appeal worked, and within a matter of two days, 1,103 people voluntarily came forward for testing, said Health Secretary Beela Rajesh to The Hindu. Since then, more members have voluntarily come forward.
In Andhra, too, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy issued an appeal on April 1 asking all attendees to come forward. Six days later, the state said that they had identified all of those who went to Nizamuddin.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that if not for the Tablighi Jamaat, the state would have been coronavirus free, his tone was matter-of-fact, and he has consistently said that the issue should not be communalised. The people who attended the meeting were not infiltrators, he said.
And Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spoke against the hate campaign on the Jamaat even before any attendee in Kerala tested positive, and has maintained the stand every day.
The strongest words perhaps came from Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. “Nobody should speak a word against Muslims. This is a warning. If anyone blames the entire Muslim community for some isolated incident, I'll take action against them also without a second thought. We will not give an opportunity for that," he told TV9.
In words and by action
The challenge of tracing thousands of people in a state is by no means easy. And while state governments in the south have been hard at work to ensure that everyone who is supposed to be in quarantine, stays in quarantine – the troubles they’re facing are seemingly much less than what is happening in other parts of the country. And the empathy with which the governments in south India are displaying while dealing with the health emergency is a key reason for this.
The various Chief Ministers and other officials have emphasised that those who test positive for the novel coronavirus should not be stigmatised. This has been clear from the language used by the administration while managing the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases.
Going a step further, the Tamil Nadu Health Department’s daily press bulletins have also chosen to replace the words ‘Delhi conference’ or ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ with a ‘single source event’ as far as source of a patient’s infections go.
Contrast this with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s language – attempting to distance his government from the organisation of the two-week-long event, and instead laying all the blame on the Jamaat and the Delhi Police for failing to trace all members. While BJP MPs in Delhi have demanded that Kejriwal issue an appeal to Jamaat members or warn of strict action, the CM has so far refused to do so.
The Assam government, which has expressed frustration with tracing and locating members, has decided to deal with those who attended the Delhi meeting with an iron hand. The state government had to finally issue a warning that they will file a case of willful disobedience against those who failed to self-declare. This, after issuing a deadline of April 7 to those who participated in the event.
Meanwhile, in other states, several Muslim legislators and leaders too have been exposed for allegedly communalising and deepening divides. On Tuesday, Assam police arrested Dhing MLA Aminul Islam from Nagaon for claiming that isolation wards set up by the government are like detention camps, and claiming they were a conspiracy to kill a section of the people.
In the southern states however, all Chief Ministers have held meetings with Muslim leaders in a bid to ensure that Jamaat attendees do not conceal their travel, and feel safe to come forward and get the healthcare they require, in turn stopping the spread of the disease.
While Yediyurappa met Muslim legislators, AIMIM MP Asaddudin Owaisi spoke about how KCR called him to tell him about the death of six attendees and said that everyone needs to work together to curb the spread of the virus.
Role of media
In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, it’s not just the administration that can take credit for tracing and locating members of the Tablighi Jamaat. The regional media has also played a critical role, with the coverage of the Islamic organisation and the COVID-19 outbreak being largely balanced, and responsible – neither pinning the blame on its members nor taking a communal spin on the stories. Though the Jamaat has rightly been criticised for holding a large scale event with foreigners at the time of an outbreak, media houses have chosen to rely on facts and statements from the government while reporting on the Tablighi Jamaat, rather than sensationalising the story or causing panic about ‘super spreaders’. (A cursory glance at the coverage by Telugu and Kannada media, however, shows a different picture).
Compare this to coverage by several Hindi news outlets, where members of the Jamaat have been demonised and vilified. From being labelled ‘villains’ to calling the event ‘corona jihad’ – a trending hashtag on Twitter – the Hindi media, aided by some Delhi- and Mumbai-based ‘national’ media, has communalised the public health emergency, while amplifying fake news and misinformation around the Tablighi Jamaat.