In the days following the massive media coverage of the Tablighi Jamaat ‘super coronavirus spreader’ incident, there have been several news reports of social media being rife with Islamophobic messages, warnings, false and incendiary narratives that lead to actual violence at the ground level, in cities all across India.
Cities like Coimbatore, Indore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Delhi have seen reports of Muslim street vendors, who are bravely providing access to fruits and vegetables during the lockdown, being shunned, prohibited from entering colonies and residential complexes, and being subject to violence when they do.
Several reports from Delhi detail an incident where street vendors selling vegetables and other essentials were asked to show their Aadhar cards before entering the colonies, so as to weed out any Muslim vendors, who were perceived to be the source of the coronavirus. This decision was not an isolated one taken by one or two residents but of the entire resident’s welfare associations collectively in that area.
Media Scanner, a fact-checking platform, compiled a list of at least 69 fake videos against Muslims and listed at least 28 attacks prompted by online abuse. A few politicians had exponentially increased their hate-mongering on platforms like Twitter by the use of incendiary and suggestive language such as ‘Talibani” Jamaat instead of Tablighi Jamaat, “Tablighi Muslims need to be treated like terrorists” (Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kapil Sharma) and so on. At a time when the nation and the world are in need of solidarity, the scapegoating of the Muslim community betrays a sobering reality, that the demonising of a community seems to take precedence over saving lives during a global pandemic.
Informal Sector And Segregating Muslims
According to the Economic Survey of India 18/19, almost 93% of the total workforce pursues their trade in the informal sector, which the lockdown has severely hit. The Muslim community has the lowest socio-economic rankings in most categories like employment numbers, access to higher education and income inequality out of any social or religious minority, despite being the largest religious minority in India as demonstrably shown in the government-mandated Sachar Committee report of 2006.
In this scenario, the Muslim population, a sizeable amount of which is directly dependant on basic informal sector jobs, are much more vulnerable not just during the lockdown, but in the coming months with regards to access to food, resources for rent and other basic expenses. Adding to this is the advent of mass Islamophobia that has been perpetuated recently since the question of the NRC protests came about late last year.
There has also been a well-documented history of segregated housing in major Indian cities, with Ahmedabad and Mumbai being important examples, especially after the cities witnessed communal riots in 2002 and 1993 respectively. This draws parallels to dark chapters of history such as the segregation of the black community in southern USA or the ‘ghettoisation’ of Jews in 1930’s Germany. These smaller insulated ghettos are often not the recipients of adequate civil infrastructure such as bus stops, shopping centres, well funded public schools or higher education institutions etc.
There were also recent reports in Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad where app-based food deliveries were cancelled because the food delivery professional was Muslim.
A reasonable inference can also be made about the employment opportunities being awarded to the young Muslim community. There is an obvious lack of access to resources that could have enabled them to pursue higher education except in a few universities which would in turn, hamper their job prospects.
But there has also been a curiously low participation rate in government jobs in the Muslim community, with even the Indian Railways having a Muslim staff constituting less than 4.5% of their total staff. There have been many instances reported of Muslim masquerading as Hindus in order to not face discrimination at a job interview in the informal sector.
Increasing Division Post COVID-19
The magnitude of issues faced by the Muslim community in Indian cities seems to be in its zenith after the protests over the alleged nationwide NRC. There are legitimate fears being stoked by community members on both sides, a fear of the other being perpetuated by years of living apart, extremely limited inter-community interaction and a volatile political landscape.
The nature of the Covid 19 is such that it requires strict social distancing, therefore an alienation from gatherings and social interactions of most kinds. The conflation of the virus with a religious identity will cut deep into the average Muslim’s everyday life, even more so that it is now. As touch and physical contact become taboo in this new post-Covid 19 world order, social relations run the risk of degenerating into an ‘Apartheid-like’ situation, with different vegetable carts, different public toilets, different public services such as water dispensers, cutlery and utensils in restaurants, different delivery professionals, different housing colonies, different employment opportunities, different rules, different laws etc.
How long will it be before a non-Muslim, unwittingly exposed to an avalanche of Islamophobic content, will be completely comfortable interacting with and say, buying vegetables, meat, clothes, eatables or anything from a Muslim vendor/shop? It is important to not discard questions such as these as sensational or unnecessarily inflammatory because the beginnings of similar highly oppressive social structures, some of which are fairly recent, serve as reminders of what a powerful media campaign coupled with disastrous economic conditions and a readymade ‘other’ group to inculpate can lead to.
This pandemic is certainly a turning point for the informal sector in India, as workers here will not only have to rebuild from scratch, in conditions that are not conducive to do so, but will also somehow have to reinvent or rethink most of their business models. Social distancing requirements and guidelines will alter a majority of affordable eateries, weekly or daily large markets, wholesale markets and the living conditions of the urban poor.
The shortcomings of government systems in terms of cash transfers, social security and rations delivery systems during the lockdown will hopefully force government and local authorities to implement the formalisation/registration of these informal sector workers in an inclusive way to set up clear networks that ensure proper service delivery to vulnerable groups of governments schemes, social security measures etc.
While this is a crucial year for the rebuilding of the economy, it is also a period which is in danger of seeing a rise in sectarian violence and the othering of the Muslim community furled by the aftermath of the Islamophobic campaign after the Tablighi Jamaat event (which was highlighted due to a selective sampling bias, ignoring other large gatherings that might have taken place in the days leading upto to during the nationwide lockdown).
However, what is even more serious is the targeting of the Muslim community through organised legislative means, wherein uncensored majoritarianism is capable of rearing its ugly head by passing Islamophobic laws or rules and deriving legitimacy from ‘majority public opinion’ and denying the moral responsibility any government at all levels, possesses.
There must be strong condemnation of these Islamophobic tendencies by all people in positions of power. First, by establishing that anyone who catches the disease is a victim and secondly, by disavowing all messages of hatred and division that will cause discord between citizens and cause enormous harm to the large workforce and in turn, the economy.
(The author is an urban researcher working on informal worker issues and part of the National Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanisation)