‘Not fair to single out Tablighi Jamaat for Covid-19 spread’: Jagan Reddy

At a time when the Tablighi Jamaat is being suspected to be the main reason for the sudden hike in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in the country, Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has expressed a different view.

The chief minister, in a televised appeal to the people on Saturday evening, said it was not correct to pin the blame on a particular religious congregation for the spread of Covid-19 in the country, as same could happen even in any such meeting in any other religious congregation.

“Some people from our State went to a religious congregation at Delhi where members from foreign countries had also come. Some of them were said to be infected and the coronavirus has spread from there. It was an unfortunate development that happened there. That does not mean the spread of the disease should be attributed to the congregation,” he said.

“Religious congregations are being held elsewhere by Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasu Dev, Mata Amritanandamayi, Paul Dinakaran or John Wesley. There is no reason to discriminate against them (Tablighis) and attribute motives to them, as the spread was not intentional,” he said.

“We should not discriminate against those people as it happened that way and was not premeditated. It is not fair to blame the spread on one particular community and single it out or see members of that community as culprits or that they have deliberately done it. No one should try to tag this spread to one community or caste,” he said.

The chief minister said the people should show compassion towards those who tested positive. “We should not show any discrimination at this hour of world crisis,” he added.

Jagan called upon the people to put up a united fight against Covid-19 irrespective of caste, creed or religion and asked them to join the nation in lighting a lamp at 9 PM to drive darkness away.