Coronavirus: Uddhav Thackeray Warns Those Sharing 'Communal Messages', Says 'COVID-19 Sees No Religion'

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday warned those who have been reportedly sharing communal messages to the citizens and uploading similar videos and added that the coronavirus sees no religion. He also said that the state authorities traced all those people from the Tablighi Jamaat, who went to the Nizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi last month.

CM Uddhav said that the Maharashtra government had earlier issued permission to Tablighi Jamaat for an event in the state but later denied it in the view of religious congregation organised by the Jamaat emerging as a key source for the spread of COVID-19 in the country. “We didn’t let what happened in Delhi happen in Maharashtra”, he added.

Earlier, reports had surfaced that eleven members of Tablighi Jamaat allegedly fled from a mosque in Shirur tehsil of Pune district after they were instructed to remain isolated there for possible exposure to novel coronavirus. However, the police had said that none of them had attended the religious congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin area last month.

Moreover, the Home Ministry has already blacklisted 960 foreigners who were involved in Tablighi Jamaat activities despite being on a tourist visa. Their visas stand cancelled while the Home Ministry has also instructed the Delhi Police and DGPs of all concerned states to take legal action against them. The Tablighi Jamaat activists who have been blacklisted include 9 British, 4 American, 6 Chinese, 3 French nationals, 379 Indonesians and 110 Bangladeshis.

Meanwhile, with 47 fresh Coronovirus positive cases reported in Maharashtra today, the total number of positive cases in the state has gone up to 537, Maharashtra Health Department said in a statement. According to latest reports, the number of coronavirus cases in India has crossed the 2,900 mark with more than 60 deaths reported so far.

(With PTI inputs)