Amid reports of many Tablighi Jamaat members volunteering to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said those who committed the sin of spreading the virus through their “criminal conduct” are now claiming to be “corona warriors”.
Naqvi said there is a “well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy” to prove every Indian Muslim as a Tablighi.
The minister further called the act as “insulting” for lakhs of corona warriors. “This is called ‘chori aur seena zori’,” he added.
His remarks come after 10 members of Tablighi Jamaat, who attended its congregation and tested positive for COVID-19, have come forward and donated their plasma to treat severally-ill Coronavirus patients in the national capital.
Several Tablighi Jamaat members at different quarantine centres have also volunteered to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, PTI has reported.
In plasma therapy, transfusion of plasma from recovered patients to severally-ill COVID-19 patients is conducted. In convalescent plasma therapy, antibodies of a recovered patient are taken and transfused into a sick person (infected by the virus) to help boost the latter’s immune system.
Last week, Naqvi, while reacting to instances of Muslims being blamed for the spurt in COVID-19 cases after Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, had said the entire Muslim community cannot be held responsible for one group’s “crime”.
He had asserted that most of the minority community members have condemned the group’s action.
Meanwhile, the donation of blood plasma comes in the wake of Delhi Chief Minister appealing to those people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma for the treatment.
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March in Delhi’s Nizamuddin has reportedly contributed to 30 per cent of the total Coronavirus cases in the country. India witnessed a surge in the number of cases after more than 1,000 people linked to the controversial Delhi mosque event tested positive. At least 17 states have reported COVID-19 cases linked to the gathering.
Following their evacuation from Markaz facility in Nizamuddin, several Tablighi Jamaat members have been arrested in police raids. A string of First Information Reports (FIR) have been filed against them across the country ranging from violating quarantine orders to indecent behaviour in hospitals.