My Opinion

Fifteen days of patience during lockdown went up in smoke on Wednesday when rumours circulated on social media in several cities of Uttar Pradesh that the government has “sealed” 15 districts. Thousands of people flocked to shops and markets in Noida, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Rampur, Saharanpur, Kanpur, Unnao, Kannauj and other cities and went into panic buying mode, stocking up on vegetables and essential grocery items.

The local police had to announce that the 15 districts have not been sealed, but only 102 hotspots in these districts, where more than six cases of Coronavirus have been found, will be sealed. But, by then, people had already started flouting lockdown and social distancing norms. People did not bother to cross-check the veracity of the rumours, nor did they wait for the official announcement. They came out of their homes in large numbers and flocked the markets. Finally, in some cities, police had to close down the shops to discourage people from panic buying.

Twenty two out of the 102 hot spots are in Agra, 13 in Ghaziabad and 12 each in Noida and Lucknow. The state government knew that people would resort to panic buying once the sealing announcement was made. Senior state government officials repeated several times that only hot spots, and not the entire district will be sealed. People were told that areas other than hot spots in the district will not be sealed.

I am particularly worried about those thousands of people who came out of their homes, without masks and mixed among crowds to buy vegetables and groceries. This was a sure recipe for disaster. They put themselves, their family members at home and all other contacts at risk of getting the virus. This panic was created by rumours that were circulated on social media. People did not even wait to verify whether the rumours were correct or not.

Let me caution all of you that India is now on the verge of entering the danger zone of this pandemic. If we do not follow social distancing and lockdown norms, we will be witnessing a spate of deaths as was witnessed in developed countries like Italy, Spain and USA. In a short span of six days, the number of Coronavirus cases has doubled from 2,500 to more than 5,000 on Wednesday. There were 32 Covid-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours in India.

One should notice that most of the Coronavirus cases in UP were found to be related to Tablighi Jamaat.

Let me give a break-up: 38 out of 64 cases in Agra relate to Jamaat, 15 out of 35 cases in Meerut, 14 out of 23 in Ghaziabad, five out of eight in Bulandshahar, seven out of nine in Firozabad, seven out of eight in Kanpur, two out of 24 in Lucknow, all six cases in Maharajganj, all 14 cases in Saharanpur, all 17 cases in Shamli, all eight cases in Sitapur, and four out of nine cases relate to Jamaat in Varanasi. Imagine how the virus was spread by Jamaat in UP alone. The Coronavirus figures in most of the other states also reveal a similar trend.

In Delhi too, more than half of the total coronavirus cases relate to Tablighi Jamaat. Delhi government had to seal off 20 hot spots.

I want to again appeal to Maulana Saad, chief of Tablighi Jamaat, who is presently under self-quarantine, to either come out of hiding or issue a video appeal to all his followers to come out and contact the police. They have not committed any theft or robbery. Police is looking for them so that they can be medically tested and if required, put in quarantine or isolation ward. This is for their own benefit. If these followers remain in hiding, they will be harming the community and the nation.

I will also request Maulana Saad to issue another appeal asking his followers, presently under treatment or in quarantine, to behave with doctors and medical staff properly. They should not try to flee from quarantine centres because they will then be putting hundreds of others at risk.

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With the end of the 21-day nationwide lockdown fast approaching (April 14), there have been numerous queries as to whether the lockdown will be extended. Many people are stuck, away from their families because of the lockdown. Millions of daily wage and migrant labourers are waiting for factories to reopen.

Chief Ministers of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, UP and Maharashtra have called for extending the lockdown. Of course, the final call will be taken by the Prime Minister after he makes an assessment of various factors in front of him. He is the best judge in the present circumstances.

But I can tell you, do not expect the lockdown to end after completion of three weeks. It’s more likely to continue. Hotspots like Noida, Mumbai, Indore and Bhopal, where the number of cases are on the rise may witness even a more severe lockdown. We should be prepared to face such an eventuality.

The situation has been worsened by hundreds of workers of Tablighi Jamaat, potential carriers of the virus, going underground and police in different states are trying their best to trace them. Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Tuesday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to all underground workers of Jamaat to either come out or face criminal charges.

In the national capital, the Coronavirus figures would have been under control but for the Tablighi Jamaat. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is doing his best and is fully cooperating with the Centre to contain the spread of the virus. He is particularly worried about scores of Jamaat workers who have gone into hiding. The number of Coronavirus cases in Delhi has touched 550 with 25 new cases coming in and two deaths reported on Tuesday. This number could have been on the lower side if the Jamaat incident had not happened.

Kejriwal says, his government is making preparations to handle up to 30,000 Coronavirus cases. Other state governments are also making plans, but the sooner the potential carriers of the virus are quarantined, the better it will be for the rest of the people. Two hotspots, Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin, have been completely sealed off as of now.

Reports of Tablighi Jamaat workers creating unruly scenes in Delhi’s Narela and UP’s Firozabad have come in. At the quarantine centre in Narela, some of the workers urinated in bottles and poured it on the floor, while several others defecated in the corridor. At the Firozabad district hospital, Jamaat workers spitted on the windows and walls and the local authorities had to take stern action.

I again appeal to the Tablighi Jamaat leaders to rein in their workers, ask them to come out of hiding, and follow quarantine rules. Timely treatment of Covid-19 will save their workers and their contacts, otherwise India will have to face the full brunt of the pandemic, with thousands of deaths taking place every day.

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With the number of Coronavirus cases spiralling across India, the Health Ministry has pointed out that figures have doubled during the last four days due to virus infection spread nationwide by Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts. Had Tablighi Jamaat not organized that fateful gathering, it would have taken more than a week for the figures to double, said the Health Ministry official. Police in several states are still trying their best to trace the Jamaat members hiding in mosques.

You may remember, Tablighi Jamaat had earlier claimed that 1,400 people took part in the Nizamuddin Markaz gathering, but the next day, when the Markaz was searched, 2,400 people were detected. Nearly 2,000 people had already left by then and they were the key spreaders of the virus. So far, police have detected 25,000 followers and their contacts and have kept them in quarantine.

When the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad issued an appeal to his followers from his hiding place, to cooperate with the government and doctors, I had expected that good sense will prevail, but the harsh reality is that several thousand followers and their contacts are still hiding in mosques.

Lucknow police rounded up Jamaat followers from Ali Jaan mosque on Monday, out of whom 12 were found positive. Eight others, all Coronavirus positive, were found in Sitapur, while 14 Jamaat followers were quarantined in Rampur. Similar reports have come from other states too.

Imagine the work of police and healthcare staff. They have to enter dense, crowded localities in search of Jamaat followers and their contacts, bring them to quarantine centres after facing noisy protests, get them tested, and then arrange for their lodging, food and treatment, and yet most of these followers spit at medical staff, demand biryani be served, and make a nuisance of themselves.

It is for the benefit of these Jamaat leaders that India TV on Monday night showed videos of dead bodies lying on the roadside in Guayaquil city of Ecuador, cardboard coffins being used for Coronavirus victims in Brazil and other countries, and no space available for burying thousands of those dead in Spain and Italy.

Some fundamentalist preachers have threatened anchors and reporters of news channels of reprisals after the Tablighi Jamaat incident, and on behalf of News Broadcasters Association, I had to issue a statement on Monday that such preachers should desist from making provocative and threatening remarks.

The electronic media has played an exemplary role in reporting Coronavirus pandemic during the current lockdown, and reporters are out in the field, putting their lives at risk. I have offered these preachers to join debates on news channels and put forth their stand while speaking on the role of Tablighi Jamaat in the current pandemic. Let good sense prevail.

The Jamaat leaders must understand that spitting in public places in Saudi Arabia invites death punishment and hiding travel history details in that country invites a fine upto Rs 1 crore. This is not the case in India.

In some Asian countries like the Phillipines, a person jumping quarantine was shot. Those violating lockdown rules can be fined Rs 23 lakh in Australia and Rs 2.5 lakh in Italy. So far, more than 40,000 people have been fined heavily. In Hong Kong, anybody violating lockdown can be fined upto Rs 2.5 lakh and can be put in jail for six months. Russian parliament has passed an anti-virus act under which anybody violating lockdown rules can end up in jail for seven years.

Contrast all these with what our Prime Minister has done. He has appealed to people with folded hands to stay at home and observe lockdown. Our laws are lax, but that does not mean that enemies of society can go scot free. They must and will be held accountable. Stringent laws must be put in place to deal with such anti-social acts.

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Anti-social elements are posting objectionable videos on TikTok and WhatsApp asking people to flout all Coronavirus precautions. They are asking people to defy social distancing rules by hugging and shaking hands. Some of them are inciting people in the name of Islam by claiming that wearing of masks is un-Islamic. Some others are trying to link the pandemic with the NRC issue.

Most of these offenders appear to be active on TikTok where they post objectionable videos. In Malegaon near Nashik, Maharashtra, police arrested three such offenders who had described Coronavirus pandemic as ‘Allah’s anger’ and ‘Rab (God) ka NRC’. The offenders Abdul Rahim, Sufian Sheikh and Syed Hussain Ali have been arrested and sent to jail.

Now who will make these misguided youths understand that Coronavirus does not differentiate people on the basis of religion or race? Most of these TikTok videos have gone viral spreading messages of hate and superstition. Most of these videos try to link the current pandemic with the NRC, at a time when national unity is the need of the hour. It is clear that there are anti-national elements trying to score advantage out of the grave danger that is lurking on the health of our people. This is outrightly inhuman, to say the least.

While TikTok has promised to delete all such objectionable videos, it has pointed out that it would be helpless if people circulate these videos on other social platforms like WhatsApp. At a meeting at the Home Ministry on Friday, it was decided that stringent action will be taken against those posting such objectionable videos meant to create communal tension through baseless rumours. The state governments have been asked to take action. Such anti-national activities must be firmly nipped in the bud.

Those who think that government should take these social media pranks by a handful of youths lightly must understand the magnitude of the problem. The number of such pranksters or miscreants may be less, but their videos circulate at tremendous speed, mostly among the illiterate and lower middle class people. At a time when we require discipline and patience to enforce a lockdown successfully, such irresponsible action can have a multiplier effect and help in spreading the dreaded virus to millions of people.

The world has watched what happened in China, Italy, Spain and now in the USA, how errors of judgement led to the deaths of so many people. God forbid, if the pandemic becomes a community risk in India, there will be dead bodies lying on the roadside unattended. So, let us not take the action of such pranksters and miscreants lightly. They are igniting flames at a time when discipline is the need of the hour.

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I am really shocked to see videos of people belonging to a community pelting stones and spitting at doctors, nurses and other staff during door-to-door survey for Coronavirus in Indore.

Similarly in Munger, Bihar, people attacked police when they came to collect the body of an eight-year-old girl suspected to have died of Coronavirus. The crowd tried to prevent police from taking his family members for quarantine.

In Karnataka and Telangana, Asha workers who had gone to localities to spread awareness about Coronavirus were attacked and manhandled. In Jaipur, a crowd attacked doctors who had gone to a locality to trace people who had come in contact with Coronavirus patients. In Rampur, UP, people pelted stones from rooftops at police who were announcing lockdown in the streets.

Indore police have arrested the culprits who attacked the medical team and they have been booked under National Security Act. Indore has become the hotspot for Coronavirus pandemic, with 75 out of 98 cases in Madhya Pradesh originating from this city. Jaipur police had to conduct flag march in Ramganj after a mob thrashed doctors. A drone surveillance was later carried out.

The attacks on doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, police in the midst of Coronavirus pandemic are, to say the least, heinous. These Corona warriors have their own families to look after, but they are toiling day and night to protect us from the scourge of the virus.

In a locality in Bengaluru, a Muslim mob heckled and manhandled Asha workers who had gone there to spread awareness about the virus. Their cellphones and hand bags were snatched away. In Nizamabad, Telangana, another mob threatened a group of Asha workers and forced them to flee.

I want to ask the people of Indore who spitted and pelted stones at doctors a question. Tell me, were these lady doctors committing a crime? They were only doing their duty in this hour of national crisis, trying to find out persons who came in contact with Coronavirus victims. They have their own family members to look after. A handful of such hooligans have brought a bad name to the city of Indore. Mere condemnation will not do, the guilty must be punished.

With sadness, I want to say, those who attacked our doctors, health workers and nurses are enemies of our society. Just think for a moment. If these health care workers withdraw from work, who will save us from Coronavirus pandemic? God forbid, if this pandemic spreads in India, who will be out there to save us?

The chief of Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad, on Thursday morning, in an audio message, appealed to his followers to follow the guidelines set by the government to fight Coronavirus, stay at home, avoid crowds, follow lockdown rules and listen to doctors’ advice.

In his audio message, the Maulana has said that he was presently in self-imposed quarantine. The Jamaat chief had gone underground since last three days. I thank him for his appeal. He should however appeal to his followers to inform authorities about their whereabouts, get their health screened and refrain from misbehaving with doctors and nurses.

There have been reports of stone pelting at doctors, nurses and policemen in Ahmedabad, Indore and Bihar, when they had gone there to trace the persons whom the Tablighi followers had contacted. This is condemnable and the Jamaat chief should appeal to people to practise restraint.

On the Coronavirus front, the worst fear was proved right on Thursday. Pandemic updates in India shot up steeply, nullifying the gains that were recorded during the nationwide lockdown. The government wanted to break the virus chain, but with 6,000 Tablighi Jamaat followers spreading across India, the pandemic has now struck more people. In Tamil Nadu alone, all the 110 cases reported on Thursday related to Jamaat followers.

Hundreds of Tablighi followers are presently hiding inside mosques in Delhi and other states. Tablighi Jamaat followers who were taken into quarantine in Delhi, started spitting on hospital floors and nursing staff and misbehaved with doctors.

All in all, a sorry state of affairs. Several leading Muslim citizens rang me up on Thursday to convince me that the Tablighi Jamaat was completely apolitical, and its only work was to propagate Islam. They said, Jamaat followers are not bad and they always steer away from politics and protests.

I told them, propagating Islam was alright, but putting the lives of thousands of people at risk was unpardonable. After all, people from Muslim community will suffer from this deadly disease, because these Jamaat followers mostly mix with Muslims. Their chief Maulana Saad lied several times and openly defied guidelines for social distancing. They misled the government by obtaining tourist visas for foreigners, whereas they had come to India as missionaries.

I told the Muslim citizens the advice that Maulana Saad had given to his followers. He had told them not to follow doctors’ advice. God forbid, if somebody is struck with cancer or a heart attack, will the patient be taken to a mosque or a hospital? A hospital is a place for treating patients and a mosque is the place to pray for the patient.

My Muslim friends agreed that the Maulana and his followers have greatly embarrassed the community as a whole, at a time when Muslims and Hindus were jointly enforcing the lockdown heeding to the call of our Prime Minister.

The Maulana and his followers must realize that they have deliberately foiled the well-laid out government plan of 21 days’ lockdown by spreading the virus. The sooner the Maulana comes out of hiding and cooperates with the government, the better it will be. The Muslim community, as a whole, will heave a sigh of relief, because the entire community is being blamed for the mistakes of a few.

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I felt both sadness and anger when I showed in ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ last night the speech of the chief of Tablighi Jamaat Maulana Saad Kandhlavi, in which he was exhorting his followers at the gathering in Nizamuddin Markaz, not to follow the doctors’ advice to maintain distancing. This flies in the face of the claim by Tablighi Jamaat that they had taken precautions during the event which was pre-scheduled.

First, the speech: On March 19, addressing the gathering for 42 minutes, Maulana Saad said, ‘even if you fear that you will die if you congregate in mosques, know this: there is no better place to die than a mosque.’

The Maulana knew that the doctors had advised social distancing, but he told the gathering: ‘we will accept the advice of only those doctors who have faith in Allah. Even if those doctors advise not to congregate inside mosques, we shall not accept.’ He went on say, ‘they have put fear in your minds because you read newspapers and not the Holy Quran.’

Clearly the Tablighi Jamaat chief was inciting people not to accept government guidelines for social distancing. The result was: nearly two thousand followers went out in groups across the length and breadth of the country and spread the dreaded virus.

More than 450 people now have virus symptoms, 24 persons staying at the Markaz were found positive, so far 10 people have died of virus after coming into contact with the followers, and right now, a nationwide hunt is on to track the thousands of followers who dispersed from the congregation.

According to official reports, there are presently 824 maulanas from this Jamaat spread in 12 states. Most of them have visited Malaysia, Indonesia. The break-up: 50 in Karnataka, 70 in West Bengal, 132 in UP, 38 in Jharkhand, 115 in Haryana, 11 in Odisha, 49 in MP and 13 in Rajasthan. Kindly note, these maulanas are separate from those 300-plus foreigner maulanas who attended the religious gathering from March 13 to 15 in Nizamuddin.

The Tablighi Jamaat claims it was a routine gathering, but they are overlooking the fact that the Delhi government had on March 13 banned all types of gatherings of more than 200 people. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that 24 out of 97 coronapositive cases were from Nizamuddin. More than 1,000 people had to be shifted to quarantine shelters in Delhi.

I have now no hesitation in saying that Maulana Saad is culpable and guilty of spreading the coronavirus by openly defying the guidelines and exhorting his followers to spread out across the country, thereby spreading the virus. It is now a Herculean task to trace each and every person who came in contact with these followers.

It is because of Maulana Saad that the near and dear ones of Coronavirus victims are suffering today. The followers of Allah were forced to attend the gathering in the name of Allah. The Jamaat and its chief are responsible for spreading the virus across the country. They made Delhi one of the major hotspots of Coronavirus, intentionally.

This is a crime against the country. While watching the videos, I was surprised to see the virus suspects spitting on the road from the buses which had been brought to take them away for quarantine. Spitting on the road by such people can spread the virus, and I guess, these people knew this too. Action must be taken against the Jamaat and its Chief.

I want to ask the Tablighi Jamaat leaders a question: If the Holy Kaaba, Mecca and Madina mosques, Vatican City, Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Siddhivinayak, Somnath and Kashi Vishwanath temples can be closed for Coronavirus, what prompted them to organize a massive gathering in the name of Islam and Allah? At a time when mosques in India stopped outsiders from offering namaaz, gurudwaras stopped outsiders from coming to offer Ardas, temples stopped devotees from coming inside, what prompted the Jamaat to commit this crime in the name of religion?

It would be wrong to say that all Muslim moulvis are not supporting the government in its fight against Corona. Most of the Maulanas have openly stood with our Prime Minister in this war, and it would be incorrect to allege that Muslims as a community are not following social distancing guidelines. We should not forget that maulanas had issued appeals asking devotees not to gather in large numbers to offer namaaz in mosques on last Friday across India. And no one crowded mosques. This gives us hope that we are all united in our fight against Corona. Win we will.

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Regular viewers of our show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ may remember, on Friday I had mentioned the case of a 65-year-old man in Kashmir, who died of Coronavirus. He had concealed his travel history about attending a Tableeghi Jamaat gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin He also visited Deoband and Jammu, while returning home. He probably did not know that he was a carrier of the dreaded virus and was part of a virulent chain reaction that triggered among more than 1,400 devotees in Nizamuddin, who are now virus suspects.

The result was: in Kashmir itself, 4 people were infected with virus, and nearly 150 people had to be kept in isolation. The Nizamuddin gathering of 1,400 devotees included more than 200 foreigners from 15 countries. The most worrying part was that these foreigners did not inform police about their travel history, nor did they follow quarantine or the guidelines for screening. All these foreigners were sent in buses to hospitals on Monday for screening and isolation.

Late at night, the Centre directed that the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to be converted into a temporary hospital for Coronavirus patients in view of the Nizamuddin incident. The UP police directed its SPs in 19 districts to trace all those people who had attended the Tableeghi Jamaat Markaz (centre) gathering.

The Markaz in Nizamuddin was sealed off from other Nizamuddin buildings late at night. Similarly a mosque inside Deoband was also sealed off. A late night report said, six persons who had attended the Tableeghi Jamaat gathering in Delhi have died of Coronavirus in Telangana, according to the Chief Minister’s Office.

To understand the magnitude of this crisis, I will give you travel details of the Coronavirus patient who died in Kashmir. He was in Kashmir on February 15, stayed in Delhi for 3 days from March 5, attended Tableeghi Jamaat gathering where devotees from Indonesia and Malaysia were present, went to Deoband (UP) on March 9 and came in contact with hundreds of teachers and students, returned to Jammu by train on March 11, stayed in Samba from March 12 to 16, returned to Srinagar via Jammu, attended a religious gathering in Srinagar on March 18, and on March 22 he fell sick. He was found Coronavirus positive the next day, and he died on March 26.

Just imagine the magnitude of the problem as to how the virus could have spread among thousands of people in different states. Tableegi Jamaat Markaz works as the centre in India for spread of Islam across the globe. These people are then sent in groups to different districts and states to spread the message of Islam. I was surprised to watch a doctor at the Jamaat claiming on Monday that these devotees had no Coronavirus symptoms and they had no information about isolation guidelines.

There are senior Muslim leaders who are aware about the gravity of this pandemic threat. The Darul Uloom university in Deoband has offered one of its buildings to the UP government to set up an isolation ward for patients, while Jamiatul Islam Hind leader Maulana Mehmood Madani has offered to the Centre any building or space to house 10,000 Coronavirus patients. These steps must be appreciated, but the negligence on part of the Tableegh is unpardonable.

I am surprised how people can be so negligent. People know how this deadly virus strikes and how one should protect oneself from such a virus by following guidelines. Everybody knows that most of the cases were due to travellers importing this virus from foreign countries, and yet the Tableeghi Jamaat withheld information about the presence of foreigners at its centre for more than three weeks.

Who stopped the Tableeghi Jamaat from imparting this crucial information about foreigners to the authorities? This is a crime against society, against our country. At a time when the entire nation, as one, is enforcing our Prime Minister’s call for 21-day lockdown and is staying at home, locking up all work and business, how did these people withheld the information about the presence of foreigners? These people have behaved as if they are enemies of our country.

To conceal the fact about presence of foreigners, to defy quarantine and screening guidelines, and then to organize a big gathering, is to invite disaster. I think, time has come to take action against those who are flouting the guidelines to prevent Coronavirus.

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India TV in its show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Friday night telecasted visuals of thousands of migrant workers from Delhi walking on National Highway near Ghazipur UP border. They were in a hurry to reach their homes.

The most disturbing aspect about these migrant workers is that there was no social distancing, all walking in groups, with their families. They could easily pass on the dreaded Coronavirus. Thousands of migrant workers from UP, Bihar and Jharkhand work in Delhi-NCR, and with the lockdown about to complete one week, these workers, without any work and pay, decided to walk to their native places.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday spoke to his officers and asked them to arrange for ferrying these migrant workers. He also spoke to the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttarakhand, where a large number of migrant workers from UP live, and requested them to arrange for their food and accomodation. He promised that the UP government would reimburse their expenses.

There were reports that rumour mongering on WhatsApp played a major role in the sudden movement of these migrant workers. Rumours were circulated that buses were available at Anand Vihar, Lal Kuan and other places, which turned out to be fake. By that time, thousands of workers, with their families, were out on the road, walking. Both Delhi and UP governments have admitted that these workers left their homes because of rumours spread on WhatsApp.

Workers who had made up their minds to stay at home during the 21-day lockdown also fell prey to these rumours. They thought that since buses were available, they could go to their native places with their families.

It is easy for armchair experts to say that the government should have arranged buses to ferry these workers, in the same way that it deployed planes to bring in Indians from foreign countries. The number of Indians brought in planes was limited and utmost precaution was taken to ensure that the virus is not spread.

What can be done with thousands of workers cramming inside buses? Is social distancing possible? Will it not multiply the spread of the virus to unimaginable proportions, with people carrying this virus to their villages and infecting others?

In a country of 1.3 billion people, a lockdown of this magnitude will necessarily bring woes to thousands of people. Lockdown and social distancing were are not by choice. There is no other option to counter the spread of this dreaded virus.

It goes to the credit of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that he has instructed his officers to ensure that the main purpose of lockdown is not defeated. At the same time, he had told his officers to ensure that these migrant workers are housed and fed in temples, gurudwaras and dharamshalas till the lockdown period is over. Yogi has said that the poor workers were his brethren, they must be given food and accomodation, but they must also follow the lockdown guidelines so that the pandemic does not spread.

Let me tell you, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working day and night to ensure that this lockdown is successful. Exemptions are being given where it is essential. He is in touch with all state governments. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is tackling the situation and his efforts should be praised. Most of the people in India are following lockdown guidelines and are staying inside their homes. They are scrupulously observing what Modi called the ”laxman rekha’ of their doorstep.

But there are others, who are gullible, who easily fall prey to baseless rumours. They may be facing hardships but they are risking their lives and the lives of others because of a false sense of bravado. They need to be stopped. Forget thousands, the mistake by a single person can put hundreds and thousands of lives at risk. The mistake committed by a few can harm 1.3 billion people.

I again appeal to all of you: Stay home, stay safe. If you have problems, contact your local police and authorities, they are there to help.

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The announcement of Rs 1.7 lakh crore worth massive relief package by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been welcomed by all political parties as a timely step to provide relief to poor women, farmers, workers, senior citizens, physically challenged and other sections of society. The aim is to shield the poor during the lockdown period.

Eighty crore poor people will be given an additional 5 kg wheat or rice and one kg pulses for the next three months under Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana. Rs 50 lakh insurance cover will be given to every healthcare worker for next three months. They include doctors, nurses, paramedics, ward boys and safai karmacharis working in hospitals.

Rs 2,000 will be transferred to the accounts of 8.69 crore farmers under Kisan Samman Nidhi in the first week of April. Wages under MGNREGA have been raised for the next three months. Nearly three crore senior citizens, widows and divyangs (disabled) will get Rs 1000 in two instalments over the next three months. 20 crore women having Jan Dhan bank accounts will get Rs 500 each per month for the next three months.

Below Poverty Level families will get free LPG cylinders under Ujjwala scheme for three months. Centre will contribute both employers’ and employees contribution in Employees Provident Fund for the next three months.

People who are well aware of the working style of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi know that the relief package was not prepared in a hurry. It will be not be correct to say that the lockdown was enforced in a hurry and our PM decided on relief measures to help the poor affected by the lockdown.

The relief package was planned meticulously taking inputs from various ministries and with full preparations. In reality, Modi analyzed the relief steps taken by other big countries, spoke to chief ministers, calculated the food stocks position, decided to go in for 21-day lockdown and followed it up with the announcement of this relief package.

There is no way out for India from this pandemic without enforcing a nationwide lockdown. If we have to save ourselves and our children, lockdown is a must. The Centre, state government and different agencies are doing their jobs, people by and large are staying in homes during lockdown but there are people who are deliberately defying lockdown and putting themselves and the community at risk.

Those violating the lockdown need to be handled with a stern hand. Some people have made it a rule that they won’t follow any rule. We can’t afford this in this hour of crisis. It’s an emergency not only for us but for the whole world. Those who refuse to see the danger, are putting millions of people at risk. They must be made to stay at home. We don’t have another option.

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March 25 was Day 1 of 21-day nationwide lockdown. In most of the places, people stayed in their homes, except for some places in Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai and UP, where police had to act sternly and FIRs were lodged against offenders. Those who are still not aware of the threat that is looming over all of us, should now be cautious.

The Prime Minister has appealed in whatever way he could, by folding his hands, and by explaining to all the necessity of social distancing and staying at home. Please understand: there is no cure for Coronavirus. If you are infected, you will put your life, the lives of your family members and your neighbours at risk. Stay at home. Coronavirus does not differentiate between the rich and the poor, it can strike anybody.

People are dying in large numbers in Italy, USA and Iran. These countries made the mistake of ignoring social distancing and did not enforce lockdown at the right time. We do not want this pandemic to spread widely in India. God forbid, if it happenes, we may be seeing dead bodies on the roadside. Our government has enforced lockdown at the right time and we should strictly adhere to guidelines and stay at home. Please, for God’s sake, discharge your duty as a responsible citizen.

Please try to understand why our PM chose this time for lockdown.

March 25 was the first day of Navratri, Gudi Padwa, Ram Navami is on April 2, Mahavir Jayanti on April 6, Good Friday on April 10, Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14,. Five holidays, with three Saturdays and three Sundays thrown in betwteen. Eleven holidays in all out a total of 21 days. It is Modi’s shrewd timing that he announced the lockdown at a time when people will face less difficulties. Millions of people observe fast during Navratras. So the choice of dates for lockdown was made carefully.

I have been in the field of journalism for 37 years. I have seen from close range, many Prime Ministers working in times of crisis. The manner in which Prime Minister Modi has handled this global pandemic is praiseworthy. He deserves our fullest support in this hour of national crisis.

At a time when world leaders are at their wits’ end on how to deal with the pandemic, Modi first tested the waters through Janata Curfew and then announced complete lockdown by gaining the confidence and support of the people. The world has never seen such a massive exercise in as big as a country like India. It is our good fortune that the nation’s leadership is in the able hands of Narendra Modi.

On one hand, he is keeping a close watch on how big nations are tackling the pandemic, analyzing solutions, and on the other hand, he is supervising micro-level implementation of healthcare measures and lockdown in our war against Coronavirus. Let us make this 21-day lockdown a resounding success.

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The entire nation has watched the Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing to all of us with folded hands not to step out of our homes for the next 21 days, i.e. till April 14. This nationwide lockdown has been enforced since last midnight. All of us should extend our fullest support to the Prime Minister. We must not cross, what the PM called, the ‘laxman rekha’ of our doorstep.

The PM cautioned that if we failed to observe 21 days’ lockdown, the horrible consequences will push the nation 21 years back in time. He also advised people not to self-medicate if they observe virus symptoms. He asked people to refrain from believing rumours and superstitions.

The PM promised that more testing facilities, personal protective equipments, isolation beds, ICU beds and ventilators will be provided to health care institutions on a priority basis. Rs 15,000 crore will be spent to tone up our health infrastructure.

While calling for patience and discipline, the PM said that our actions during these 21 days will decide the full effect of this global pandemic in India.

Late in the night, in response to reports about panic buying by some people in several cities, the PM, in a tweet, told people not to panic. He assured that essential commodities will be made available to people. The Centre and state governments have prepared guidelines to provide essential commodities to people.

Now that you have all heard what the PM said, it is my appeal to you again, with folded hands, to stay in your homes to break the chain of this deadly pandemic. I know it will be a difficult task for the next 21 days, but there is no other option. I know your jobs, your business will be affected, but saving your life and the lives of your near and dear ones is of paramount importance.

If we make mistakes and defy lockdowns, the consequences will be terrible. The death toll will mount rapidly and there will be hardly anybody left to collect the bodies from the roadside. So let us rule out that dreaded possibility right now by staying in our homes and break this deadly chain.

Some people are raising questions about why this action was taken late. This is not the right time for blame game. Do not forget, it was our Prime Minister who gauged the threat from the beginning, and in a measured manner, he took a series of steps, first to bring in stranded Indians and at the same time, to tone up our health infrastructure. These steps were taken at the right time. The government has done, and is doing a lot, but the question is: what are the people doing? They must observe lockdowns and stay at homes for their own survival.

Think of those doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, policemen, media persons, reporters who are out toiling day and night, away from their families. Can we not at least stay in our homes for the next 21 days and face this big challenge with discipline and fortitude?

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