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Coronavirus Has Hit Indian Muslims The Worst
In addition to the vaccine, we need an antidote for Islamophobia
In a casual conversation with my mother one of these days, she said she had asked my father not to buy any vegetables from a Muslim vendor. The reason, she said, “because Muslims spit on them before selling it’’.
I was appalled to hear that. Not because of what my mum just mentioned but the fake news that she now firmly believes in. I tried to reason with her explaining that the video she saw on Whatsapp, is shot much before the whole coronavirus fiasco. It is being circulated now to fuel hatred towards the Muslim community and use them as a scapegoat for the entire pandemic. Irrespective of the timeline, I agree with her that the viral video was indeed despicable. However, it was later found that the vendor was mentally unstable. And that you cannot banish a whole community because of what you saw in one video.
There was similar fake news that was peddled a few decades ago about this local street vendor in Ahemdabad using sewage water in his preparation. No one asked then, what was his religion or worse still, asked everyone to ban street food altogether. (That would bring mayhem.) But then, ‘Why are we asking about the religion now? Why is the Muslim community being stigmatised for a pandemic that everyone is…
