By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: As the country witnessing steady increase in Islamophobic incidents, main opposition Congress on Thursday alleged that the ruling party at the Center is seeking to inflame communal divisions even as the entire nation is batting Covid-19 pandemic. It also warned that the country should be wary of forces which want to commnalise and polarise in this hour of unprecedented health crisis. It also condemned the brazen attempts to turn the Palghar mob-lynching incident into Hindu-Muslim issue for petty- politics.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision body of the party, again met here at the Party headquarters and took the stock of the situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. It had also met earlier on April 2 this month and discussed key challenges and necessary measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Briefing about the resolution passed by the CWC which was presided by the party president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary K.C. Venugopal said it is matter of concern that the government has acknowledged only some issue.
“The CWC notes with concern that while some issues have been acknowledged partially by the Government, others continue to languish.”
Furthermore, in the three weeks since, these issues have become complicated due to the failure to address them in a timely and effective manner, he added.
“CWC had identified key issues and classified them under four distinct heads; (1) Containment and Treatment; (2) Livelihood Support; (3) Maintenance of Supplies; and (4) Economic Revival.”
Venugopal said the CWC also noted with grave concern that the ruling BJP is trying to polarize the Covid issue while the nation needs to stand united in this hour of crisis.
“CWC notes with concern that the BJP is seeking to inflame communal divisions even as the entire nation battles Covid-19.”
He said the meeting also reminded that “the virus does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, religion or gender and appealed to fellow countrymen not to fall prey to communal forces.
“As a nation we must be wary of forces that seek to polarize in times of crisis such as these. The onus lies on us to ensure that we stand together as one nation in the face of all odds.”
In response to a question on communalizing Palghar incident, Venugopal said ‘basically, Palghar is a stronghold of BJP and Maharashtra Home Minister told that the FIR has been registered against 110 people.
Out of these 110 people, not even a single Muslim is there, then how can it become a communal issue? He said and adding that “what we are seeing is that in the name of criticism, the propaganda is being furthered-malicious propaganda is being propagated, only to trigger communal clash throughout the country.
The senior congress leader also questioned the silence of the Prime Minister is telling everyday that we are united in fight against the Coronavirus.
“How can the Government allow this at a time when we all are fighting against the Coronavirus? But here, some people are trying to create communal virus to defeat the ‘fight against Coronavirus’, which is quite unfortunate”, he said.
The Congress Party’s unit of Maharashtra has held a Press Conference and put out some evidence of the links of the so called accused with the BJP, when there is no Hindu-Muslim angle then how can any violence be termed as communal violence, he asked.