On Friday, the Karnataka government issued a show-cause notice to an IAS officer over his controversial tweet after he had praised Tablighi Jamaat members for allegedly donating plasma for treatment of other patients. According to the reports, on April 27, IAS officer Mohammad Mohsin had posted a tweet hailing Tablighis Jamaat members as “heroes” and had targetted the media for exposing their crimes of spreading coronavirus across the country.
In his tweet, Mohammad Mohsin had lamented over lack of news coverage of Tablighi Jamaat members who had allegedly donated plasma to aid in the fight against coronavirus.
“More than 300 Tablighi heroes are donating their plasma to serve the country in New Delhi only. What about it? Godi Media? They will not show you the works of humanity done by these heroes,” the senior official had tweeted. The tweet has been deleted now.
A 1996 batch IAS officer from Karnataka cadre hailing from Bihar, Mohsin is currently serving as a secretary in the Backward Class Welfare Department.
Adverse tweet noted by the government
“The adverse coverage this tweet has got in the media has been taken note of seriously by the government, given the serious nature of COVID-19 and the sensitivities involved,” the notice said about the IAS officer and his tweet on Tablighi Jamaat.
The government has sought a written explanation from the officer within five days for violating the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968. The government has warned of action against Mohsin as per the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 if he fails to submit his reply before the deadline.
“The Karnataka government has made it clear that it would not hesitate to act even against powerful functionaries if their actions are damaging to the harmony in the state at a time when all are united in fighting COVID-19,” a senior state bureaucrat said to the media.
Mohammad Mohsin was suspended last year for violating rules
The senior IAS officer, Mohammad Mohsin was in news last year after he was suspended by the Election Commission as he had tried to inspect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s helicopter during his visit to Odisha in April. He was deployed as a poll observer.
He was deployed in Odisha as a general observer, where had led a search party to inspect PM Modi’s helicopter in Odisha’s Sambalpur. The bravado of the officer was in “violation” of norms for dealing with SPG protectees and he was suspended on 17 April.
Tablighi Jamaat – The superspreader of coronavirus
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March, has become the mega-spreader of coronavirus in India, as many as more than one-third cases in India are linked to that event now. The persons who had attended the event, and their family members and those who came into contact with them are testing positive regularly, contributing the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.
The Tablighi Jamaat event was not only attended by Indian Islamic clerics but also foreign nationals. The alarm bells should have started ringing when seven Indonesian nationals associated with the organization tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus in Telangana after travelling from Delhi to Karimnagar for an Ijtema. However, it was only later that the full scope of the Tablighi Jamaat’s contribution to the spreading of the virus became prominent when nearly 300 Jamaatis in the Delhi’s Banglewali Masjid had to be taken to hospital for suspected coronavirus symptoms, many testing positive eventually.
