Covid-19: Centre fights virus on the one hand, polarisation on the other

NEW DELHI: As it battles the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the government is also having to contend with growing communal polarisation in the wake of Tablighi Jamaat‘s link to rise in positive cases.

Senior government sources said that feedback from across the country suggested that the disproportionately large number of positive cases and callous disregard shown by Jamaat members to the well-being of care providers have embittered inter-faith ties, aggravating the challenge at a time when the government is fighting an unprecedented public health challenge.

The concern led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge chief ministers to enlist the support of faith leaders. They should be told that their respective faiths would survive only if they unitedly defeated coronavirus, sources quoted the PM as telling the CMs.

Sources said the conduct of TJ leaders, who disregarded the need to maintain social distancing at the Nizamuddin Markaz in the capital, as well as the way the