BJP communalising Corona epidemic to hide failures: Congress

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Minorities Department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail has alleged that the BJP Government is trying to communalise the Coronavirus epidemic only to hide its failure in controlling its spread.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Abdullah Sohail strongly condemned a section of media for its attempts to demonise the Tableeghi Jamaat and highlighting their Markaz as the epi-centre of Coronavirus in India. He said that the ‘Ijtema’ (meeting) at Markaz Nizamuddin was held between 15th to 18th March, long before Prime Minister Narender Modi talked about social distancing (March 19) and much before the Janata Curfew on March 22. He said both Delhi and Central Governments did not respond to repeated written requests sent by the Markaz seeking help to send back the people trapped due to lockdown. He said both the Central and Delhi Governments should answer the points raised by Tableeghi Jamat in its clarification wherein it claimed that it did not violate any norms.

The Congress leader said that it was ridiculous on the part of the Telangana Government to say that some suspects were untraceable. He said that the railways and airlines collect complete details of all their passengers, including address proof and mobile number, at the time of booking a ticket. Therefore, it is not a difficult task for the authorities to trace each and every person who entered the State in a specific period. Instead of tracing down the suspects and conducting tests, Telangana Government has created unnecessary hype over ‘missing suspects’ to scare the people and also to create a false impression that it was seriously handling the issue. He said those who attended the Tableeghi Jamaat meeting were ordinary citizens who travelled to Delhi and returned without violating any norms. He said it was wrong to target an entire