Propagandists have come up with a novel way of attacking the Modi government over the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. It is now being alleged that the ‘Namaste Trump’ event is to be held responsible for the high number of cases that is being observed in Ahmedabad. Of course, the individuals spreading the malicious lie is well aware that there is not a shred of truth in the allegations but when the objective is to gain political mileage by hook or by crook, truth is often sacrificed at the altar of misinformation.
All the gyaanis who hold forth on COVID 19 go completely silent, when it comes to how Modi organised the Trump tamasha when the warning for the pandemic was on. And Ahmedabad is worst affected now. Map the containment areas and see if they are common with Trump event or not.
— Dushyant (@atti_cus) May 10, 2020
It is important to remember here that Donald Trump was on an official visit to India on the 24th and 25th of February. The US President addressed the Namaste Trump event on the 24th of February. The first Coronavirus cases were reported from Gujarat on the 19th of March when two individuals had tested positive. And in both these cases were not cases of local transmission, the individuals had returned from abroad recently. One had returned from Saudi Arabia and the other from London. What is more, one case was in Rajkot and the other from Surat. Thus, first cases of Coronavirus was reported from Gujarat 25 days after the Trump event and they were not even in Ahmedabad. And yet, the propaganda persists.
🔸5,436 cases & 500 deaths in just Ahmedabad
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) May 10, 2020
🔸70% of Gujarat cases are from Ahmedabad
🔸Gujarat has the 2nd highest number of cases in India
Why hasn’t Media called Namaste Trump the ‘Single Source’ of Gujarat?
Darnab, B&D, Tihadi have been told to focus on Maharashtra only? pic.twitter.com/pD2NjIKxhk
In Ahmedabad district, outside of the city or municipal corporation limits, the first case was linked to travel from abroad as well. It was a person who had returned from the United Kingdom on the 17th of March. He was tested on the 19th and his results came back the following day. He was discharged on the 10th of April. Thus, it’s quite clear that the first cases in the state are linked to travel from abroad and not to the Trump event in Ahmedabad at all. Furthermore, it is to be expected that the US Government takes the security and health of its President very seriously and it is simply not credible to claim that he would travel in the company of anyone who had tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus.
As it is, the attempt to link the Coronavirus crisis in Ahmedabad to the Trump event is a blatant effort to whitewash the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat. We at OpIndia have extensively documented the manner in which propagandists have gone to great lengths to absolve the Islamic Missionary organisation of its sins. This is another such attempt, perhaps the most audacious of the lot. Because the surge in Coronavirus cases is linked directly to the Markaz Nizamuddin event in Delhi.
On the 5th of April, principal secretary, health, Jayanti Ravi told media persons, “Yesterday, we found three cases linked to Tablighi congregation. Apart from that, Ahmedabad has reported ten positive cases which were detected in the hotspot zones or those areas where Muslim brothers and sisters live in the majority. There is a big possibility that these cases are directly or indirectly connected to the Nizamuddin event.” Later, the same day, Director General of Police, Shivanand Jha, said that 126 individuals who had attended the Jamaat event had been traced, out of which 6 had tested positive for the virus.
This was at a time when Ahmedabad had only 53 positive cases of the Coronavirus. The civic authorities had put five residential societies in Jamalpur, Dariapur, Rakhial and Danilimbda, all reported to be Muslim majority areas, under cluster containment. Thus, unless liberals want us to believe that Jamaatis and Muslims were there in huge numbers at the Namaste Trump event on the 24th of February cheering for two world leaders that have been branded as ‘Islamophobic, it’s simply ridiculous to claim that the Namaste Trump event is responsible for the spread of the virus.
Furthermore, if the Namaste Trump event were indeed the source of the spread, the surge in Coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad would have been observed in the second week of March, not in April, given the fact that the virus has a two week incubation period. The purpose of such claims is not to spread the truth, the sole objective is to bury the facts beneath a coffin of lies. Recently, Udar Mahurkar said that around 60% of the affected and dead in Ahmedabad due to the virus are from the Muslim community. Therefore, to still tie the crisis to the Namaste Trump vent is sheer lunacy and a desperate attempt to cover up the sins of the Tablighi Jamaat.
In the midst of all of this, members of the Tablighi Jamaat have been up to their usual tricks. Tablighi Jamaat attendees at Ahmedabad’s Sola Civil Hospital created a ruckus in the first week of April and refused to take medicines or injections claiming that the government wants to kill them. Ultimately, a Muslim doctor had to be summoned in order to gain the confidence of the Jamaatis. It is also pertinent to mention that Ahmedabad is not the only city which has seen a surge following the debacle at Markaz Nizamuddin. Every state has had to bear the brunt of the transgressions of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Muslim mobs once again attack police in Ahmedabad’s walled city. police has been repeated attacked in Muslim areas for enforcing lockdown in Ahmd -1 of the worst affected in India. Nearly 60% of affected n dead in A’bad r Muslims.Shouldn’t police be allowed to shoot at such mobs pic.twitter.com/LGnQBu2q5m
— Uday Mahurkar (@UdayMahurkar) May 8, 2020
The map of the Coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad also show that most cases are from Muslim dominated areas. On the 7th of April, it was announced that the Walled City in Ahmedabad had been declared a buffer zone and thye Nehru Bridge, one of the five bridges over the Sabarmati River had been shut for traffic. It was announced that everyone entering and exiting the Walled City will be screened. The Walled City is a Muslim dominated area. More importantly, as one can see, the clusters on the right side of the river are Muslim-dominated too.
Moreover, Ahmedabad administration had decided to publish name and addresses of those who have tested positive for coronavirus so that anyone else who has come in contact with the infected person can take precautionary measures and self-isolate. A random sampling of the list issued by Amdavad Municipal Corporation shows how most of the patients were Muslims.
As can be seen above, in first list dated 6th April, except for patient no. 1, all 10 others are Muslims. In list 2 dated 9th April, except for patient no. 2 and 3, 19 others are Muslims. In list no. 3 dated 7th April, patient no. 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13 are Hindus, rest 9 are Muslims. However, soon after, people started protesting with the publishing of names and Corporation did away with naming the patients. From 10th April onward, the patients were just given codes and not names. However, going by the trend on random samples, it would not be too far off to say that an overwhelming coronavirus positive patients till at least mid-April were Muslims.
Under such circumstances, the attempt to link the crisis in Ahmedabad to the Namaste Trump event only goes on to show the lack of integrity of the individuals perpetuating the hoax. For all the reasons mentioned above, it is preposterous and utterly ridiculous to even make such a claim. And if it was indeed the Namaste Trump event that triggered the coronavirus pandemic in Ahmedabad, then one can safely assume that the overwhelming Muslim population in Ahmedabad loves Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump and well, this is indeed Achhe Din!
