New Delhi: Urging unity and brotherhood in the response towards Covid-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the virus does not see race, religion or borders before striking.
“COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together: PM @narendramodi,” the tweet by the Prime Minister’s Office reads.
Modi’s statement comes after a Muslim congregation that sparked a wave of Covid-19 cases in India triggered outrage that later took an Islamophobic turn.
The PM also said that unlike previous moments in history, when countries or societies faced off against each other, today we are together facing a common challenge. "The future will be about togetherness and resilience," the PM said.
He tried to channel the nation's energy towards more productive tasks, saying that India should rise to the occasion and seize the opportunity afforded by Covid-19.
"India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world," he said.
The Prime Minister's message of togetherness came as cases in India have increased to more than 15,000, with more than 500 deaths, although the rate of new infections has slowed down over the past week.
After the Tablighi Jamaat event came to light, Muslims were perceived to be carriers of the virus after a congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi, they had to face both verbal and physical abuse.
There had been a sudden surge in Islamophobic hashtags and posts on different social media platforms accusing Muslims of purposefully spreading the virus. A new term, "corona jihad", was coined to describe this conspiracy.
Experts have said targeting of a particular community over the virus can weaken India’s fight as it deters people who are showing symptoms from coming forward.
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