Lucknow: Opposition parties have accused Lucknow administration of targeting Muslims by naming some coronavirus hotspots after local mosques, a charge rejected by officials who said the authorities were just following a set practice.
In the initial list of hotspots in the Uttar Pradesh capital, eight mosques were mentioned by the administration while identifying the areas. For example, the list in Hindi said, In police station Kaisarbagh, area around Phoolbagh Masjid. The administration has named hotspots after mosques in Lucknow. This is unfortunate, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu told sources.
"This is a pandemic which did not attack a particular religion. It has nothing to do with a particular religion or sect. The government should focus on increasing testing facilities. The government is hiding its failures with such moves," he said.
Samajwadi Party legislator Rajpal Kashyap also criticised the administration. "What message does the administration want to give to the people by naming the hotspots after mosques, he asked. Coronavirus did not target any particular community. The focus should be on treating patients, making people aware and taking measures like sanitisation to check the spread," he said.
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He alleged that the way the list was made is discriminatory and "suits the political agenda of the government". Officials, however, rejected the charge that a particular community was being targeted. They said the mosques were mentioned because coronavirus cases were detected in their vicinity.
"This is just to pinpoint an area where more cases have been found, nothing else. This is an old practice and there is no political colour to it," a senior official said.
Lucknow has so far reported 226 cases and one death due to coronavirus. The mosques named to identify areas around them include Masjid Ali Jaan in Sadar Bazar, Mohammadiya Masjid in Wazirganj, Khajoor Wali Masjid in Triveni Nagar, Nazarbagh Masjid in Kaiserbagh and Rajauli Masjid in Gudumba. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Saturday blamed Tablighi Jamaat members for the spread of COVID-19 after their return from a congregation in New Delhi.
"Being infected with a virus is not a crime but to hide it is definitely one," he said. According to official figures, 1,138 coronavirus cases out of the 2,579 detected in the state so far are linked to Tablighi Jamaat members and those who came in contact with them. (PTI report)
