A number of people contracted coronavirus after attending a religious gathering on 13 March at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. The religious event was attended by more than 2,500 people, including hundreds of foreigners.
Markaz Nizamuddin has been the international headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat for nearly 100 years.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called the Tablighi Jamaat a ‘Talibani crime’, according to Hindustan Times. He said:
“It is a Talibani crime. When the entire country is together to fight coronavirus, in such circumstances, such a thing is a crime. Not just the law, but even the Almighty will not forgive such a thing. It is very unfortunate that the lives of so many people were endangered because of such a careless approach.”Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister
He added that any kind of ‘excuses’ would be of no use, and that an action like this was damaging to society and the country in a large way.
Nationals from the UK and France are among 281 foreigners out of 1,830 people who were found by the Delhi police in last two days at Nizamuddin's Markaz Masjid. These 1,830 people, including foreigners from 16 countries, continued to stay at the Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaj even as a 21-day nationwide lockdown was imposed on 24 March, according to officials.
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