Important to change domestic reality: Tharoor to Modi on anti-Muslim campaign

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Important to change domestic reality: Tharoor to Modi on anti-Muslim campaign

The attitude that India loves Muslims so long as they are outside India, but insults them at home, is not tenable, Tharoor said

Sunday May 3, 2020 0:51 AM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being “too slow to condemn his party’s bigotry” and allegedly condoning “overt expressions of Islamophobia from his own camp”, PTI reported.

“The attitude that India loves Muslims so long as they are outside India, but insults them at home, is not tenable in a world of instant global communications,” Tharoor said.

“The mounting number of incidents and statements against Muslims in India was bound to attract negative attention abroad. It is more important to change the domestic reality than do damage control", he said.

"The Modi government has shamefully failed to curb the appalling behaviour of many of its most rabid supporters, including some in high positions", the senior Congress leader said.

Also Read | PM Modi talks of 'unity' after backlash in Saudi, Kuwait, UAE over Islamophobic attacks

“Let us not forget that ‘Ramzade/Haramzade’ comment came from a minister, and the latest remark from a BJP MLA in UP telling people not to buy vegetables from a Muslim vendor,” Tharoor said.

Tharoor's comments came amidst the backlash India is facing from Arab countries over rampant Islamophopbic and anti-Muslim attacks on social media and local media that only intensified after some of the members of Tablighi Jamaat were tested positive for Coronavirus.

Tablighi Jamaat Coronavirus link dominated the Indian televsion space after it emerged that some of those who attended its Ijtema at Markaz Nizamuddin in March were Covid-19 positive. The Jamaat said permission for the Ijtema was taken well in advance and that its members were stranded at the Markaz because of the sudden announcement of the lockdown.

The matter however was raked up by the anti-Muslim lobby in India and anti-Muslim anti-Islam messages were flooded on various social medica platforms. A number of people who posted such messages were reportedly supporters of PM Modi and the ruling BJP.

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There were also reports that some Muslim vendors and delivery boys were not only targeted but people also refused to buy food essentials and take deliveries from them accusing them of spreading Coronavirus in India.

Taking note of this the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had urged the Indian government to take urgent steps to protect Muslims who are being “negatively profiled” and facing “discrimination and violence” in India.

Prime Minister later called for "unity" while fighting the war against Covid-19. However, the bigots continued in spreading hate against Indian Muslims. Expressing concern over the unabted tirade against Muslims and other minorities, Congress President Sonia Gandhi accused the BJP of spreading "communal virus" at the time when India needs to jointly fight the Corona virus.

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