Emergence of ‘communalism’ amidst COVID-19

Through this column of your esteemed newspaper, I would like to highlight the emergence of communalism in India amidst the current situation of COVID-19.

India is currently fighting a war against COVID-19 on one hand, whereas on the other hand, it is also fighting against the rise of communal hatred which has resulted due to the spread of misinformation in several parts of the country. It all started with the Tablighi Jamaat members hitting headlines after their Markaz becoming a hotspot of coronavirus. Hate posts and messages have started circulating the social media targeting a specific community since then.

Recently, the mob lynching that took place in the Palghar area of Maharashtra is another such example that has been communalized as some individuals have linked the incident to communal matters by claiming that the incident was carried out with communal motives. In the same manner, several people have been beaten up on the ground of their religion. Some people are also calling it as a form of ‘Corona Jihad’ on several social media platforms which has worsened the situation.

People from different walks of life have raised their voice against the ongoing trend and have come up to stop the spread of such misinformation that has been going on. Meanwhile, the government has also taken serious steps to stop such false inputs. The Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekhar Rao recently said, “We shouldn’t communalize the matter”. The World Health Organization has also called the situation an ‘infodemic’ more than a pandemic as a large number of misinformation have speculated over the time, leading to communal hatred in different parts of the world.

Dibyojyoti Brahma,

Cotton University