Indian constitution motivates me to promote rationalism: Bhagavan

Mangaluru, May 5: As many as 7,119 labourers, who were stranded in Dakshina Kannada district, were sent to their native places in buses operated by KSRTC’s Mangaluru and Puttur divisions.

After the announcement of lockdown, the stranded labourers were provided shelter in various halls, Town Hall and government hostels in the district.

The stranded labourers from Kuloor, Panjimogaru, Panambur, Baikampady, Yeyyadi, Mulki, Ullal, Bunder, Hoige Bazar and from taluk centres, who wished to take up farming activities in their villages, were sent back in KSRTC and private buses. As many as 266 buses were engaged for ferrying the labourers.

The labourers underwent health check-up prior to their departure to their native villages, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said.

Suhaana shuddered with fear as she heard violent banging on her door on Sunday. The atmosphere was charged with communal tension after thousands of ruthless goons supporting contentious Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) launched a bloody onslaught against Muslims in the capital of India.

The family consists of Suhaana (name changed), her partially paralysed husband and two daughters. They are the only Muslim family in Madhuban mohalla of North Ghonda locality in north-east Delhi.

Hearts pounded louder than pounding of the door. Then the banging stopped and noises of men talking loudly came.

"I peeped out from a small window near the kitchen and saw our neighbours standing outside our entrance and arguing with 10-15 unknown people," Suhaana said.

It was the first day of the communal violence, worst in the decades, that fanned out to the entire north-east Delhi over the next three days and claimed at least 42 lives, left over 200 injured and properties worth crores destroyed. The death toll is feared to go up.

Later in the night Suhaana's family moved to one of their Hindu neighbour's house. There are about 30 Hindu households in the mohalla who kept vigil as the atmosphere deteriorated.

The next day, the violence escalated. The neighbours decided to shift Suhaana 's family to Gautampuri for their safety.

Suhaana recounted, "Our neighbours assured us that they are with us but as things were deteriorating, they said they wouldn't be able to protect us if a big mob of hundreds came. They advised us to move to the nearby Gautampuri locality and come back only after things become normal."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj brought the family to Gautampuri in the early hours on February 25.

Anil Gupta, 49, said, "It was tough to rescue them. We were asked by the rioters as to why we were saving the Muslims. But we had to, it is the people of my country who are suffering. It cannot be Hindus or Muslims."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj said, "Their youngest clung to me throughout. After I brought them here at Gautampuri, I felt good. Situation till then was not okay."

On Saturday, some semblance of normalcy returned to parts of north-east Delhi with some people opening their shops amid heavy police presence.

Meanwhile, the morbid sight outside GTB Hospital's mortuary, agonising groans in the hospital wards burnt down houses and shops remind Suhaana and others what they have been spared of.

Lucknow, Apr 13: Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are now worried that the intense communal profiling of the Corona patients by the official agencies could lead to lynching incidents once the lockdown is lifted.

Muslim scholar and former SP spokesman, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, on Monday said, "The manner in which the government agencies are identifying persons belonging to Tablighi Jamaat in the list of Covid-19 patients is now translating into intense communal profiling which has been prohibited by the World Health Organization and the central government. A very small percentage of Muslims subscribe to the Tablighi Jamaat ideology but the impression going around is that the Muslim community, in general, is spreading coronavirus."

He said that there was a strong possibility of Muslims, in general, being attacked after the lockdown is lifted.

"This is exactly what happened on the cow slaughter issue. Even a small rumour led to people being lynched by mobs across the country. Corona is a pandemic and should be treated like one. We should fight against the virus together instead of creating a communal divide. Every day, the government spokesman lays down the number of Corona positive cases and then goes on to say how many of them are from Tablighi Jamaat," he explained.

Amir Haider, a social activist and also a veteran Congress leader, echoed similar sentiments when he said, "We strongly condemn the Tablighi Jamaat for ignoring the protocols and holding the congregation but why is the state government repeatedly harping on the religious angle. Shia and Sunni clerics are repeatedly asking the people to adhere to government guidelines and follow safety protocols.

He said that efforts to create a communal divide on the corona issue could have dangerous ramification after the lockdown is lifted."

A retired IAS officer, who did not wish to be named, said, that people have already started objecting to taking home deliveries from Muslim employees.

"My neighbours refused to take delivery of groceries from a Muslim boy. This is just the beginning of the narrative that is being drilled into the minds. We must check this before it explodes into something very dangerous," he said.