The good news — coverage — was too good to last so it had to turn ugly.
The Tablighi Jamaat coronavirus scare presented news channels with the ideal opportunity to bare the fangs they had momentarily withdrawn last week. “In the battle against corona, Jamaat has dealt a bloody blow,” hollered ABP News. “Save the country from corona jihad,” demanded the Sudarshan headline with the anchor raising a clenched fist, “act strongly against corona jihad”. “In the name of religion, they have put our lives at risk,” warned Zee News. The Tuesday evening anchor then accused the Jamaat of taking India into the third stage of the coronavirus infection.
“Yes Markaz spiked the numbers”, “Ban Taliban Tablighi, chorus grows,” announced Times Now Wednesday evening.
Arnab Goswami on Republic TV said it was a “deliberate” attempt to undermine “my country”. He then let his guests yell at each other in a free fall.
Deepak Chaurasia (News Nation) was apoplectic with rage, his eyes screwed up as he demanded answers —
“jawab” – from Anzar Raza, the guest on his show, as though he had spread the coronavirus himself. Aam Aadmi Party’s Saurabh Bhardwaj told him to calm down and not treat the pandemic like just any other political issue.
Times Now called it “Markaz mayhem” and accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of not dealing with the “super spreaders” inside the Nizamuddin centre, because of “appeasement”.
And so it went on and on, from one channel to another.
Also read: Coronavirus was a test of secular nationalism. Then Tablighi Jamaat became the scapegoat
The biggest story
Tuesday evening, audio tapes appeared on many channels such as CNN News18, Times Now, Zee News and Republic TV implicating Maulana Masood, the head of the centre. By Wednesday evening, videos emerged of a 23-March meeting of the Nizamuddin police with the Markaz officials in which they were warned to leave the premises (CNN News18). You hear one of the Markaz individuals say they can’t go home because of state-sealed borders….
As if this was not scary enough, news channels put out maps of India with red tags appearing across its length and breadth to indicate the destination of individuals who had gone home after their stay at the Nizamuddin Markaz. If the intention was to cause those of us sitting at home panic attacks, the news channels had more than succeeded.
With a display of its normal single-minded and simple-minded focus, TV news channels were determined to blame the Tablighi Jamaat for “Corona bomb” as ABP called it, in what India TV described at “Ek Maulana 9 shahar”. Which would have been fine had they also fixed some responsibility for what is now the “biggest manhunt” (Times Now) across India for those who fanned out from Nizamuddin — on other state authorities.
Also read: Aaj Tak’s Sardana says don’t mix ‘dharm’ and ‘bimaari’ & Dharavi casualty worries Sardesai
Some tough questions
Luckily, some channels tried for a more rational approach: Sandeep Choudhary of News 24 asked tough questions of the Modi government and the BJP. He looked at the “chronology” of events, pointing out that many temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, were open till 20 March and Parliament was working till 23 March. He questioned the politics of “dharma” and calling out only the Tablighi Jamaat.
ABP News pointed out, in a report by Indrajeet Rai, that the Nizamuddin Police station was just 50 metres away from the Tablighi Jamaat—it was “right under their nose” — what were they (the police) doing?
On India Today, Gaurav Sawant said there were questions to be asked of the Delhi government, the police, and Modi government too on how people from other countries were allowed into the country and to stay on at the Nizamuddin centre.
Also read: Tablighi Jamaat scare: Arnab calls it deliberate, ‘whole country in danger’ says Liyaquat
Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment
Meanwhile, the condition of the thousands of migrant workers has been all but forgotten.
Instead, news channels have tried to provide us with some comic relief from the “dharma drama” (News X). This has taken several forms: comedian Sunil Grover appeared on News Nation and India Today – he did a perfect imitation of Salman Khan on the latter; Armaan Malik strummed his guitar and sang on CNN News18 as anchor Anand Narasimhan tried to keep up with the beat; there was ‘Antakshari’ on Aaj Tak between the anchors and guests; Vikrant Gupta and Shweta Singh entertained themselves Monday evening in a singalong, asking viewers to send in their videos; News Nation hosted singer Anoop Jalota while India Ahead featured Bollywood stars’ home work; ABP brought us ‘Nanhe Bigg Boss’ every afternoon featuring the antics of young children at home.
“Your entertainment is also our responsibility,” proclaimed News 18 India, in lofty tones.
Now, if only they entertained without spooking us….
Views are personal.
Shut the hell up all of you and instead of fighting and blaming each other, for once come together to fight this virus. Stop spreading hatred in the name of religion and politics. Because of this hatred amongst communities we are all confined to our home’s. Dont let media or your own filthy mind bring more distress to this country than it already is in.
Tabhligi jamaat is responsible for the frequent spread of covid19 virus and muslim as always are denying and holding away from it. This is why panic spreads. Arnab Goswami asks the question in the way they should be asked.
Why.?… Does this particular community sports horns? Are they supra normal humans and super privileged that they are beyond questioning? If these idiots cannot follow rules, let them go to some place where there are no rules… There are a lot of options like Somalia, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, turkey, Jordan, Yemen, or maybe even Saudi… You can live happily ever after there and for us it will be good riddance of the worst kind of parasites one can imagine. Get the hell out of my country!!!
The real face of the people ia seen when you are in difficult times. The print report is totally one sided and that is happening since last 1400 years the tolerant gets more beating. To say the least about this reporter who has made up her mind to eat shit. Let her do that without realising that the majority is thinking opposite.
These hard core elements in the Muslim community should be punished severally. In the name of propagating religion, they are acting against the interest of the country by spreading corona virus. Print is always speak against Govt.
” He looked at the “chronology” of events, pointing out that many temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, were open till 20 March and Parliament was working till 23 March. He questioned the politics of “dharma” and calling out only the Tablighi Jamaat.He looked at the “chronology” of events, pointing out that many temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, were open till 20 March and Parliament was working till 23 March. He questioned the politics of “dharma” and calling out only the Tablighi Jamaat.”
Problem for SANDIP CHAUDHARY is like what famous Andy Roone of sixty minutes said about people whose children have gone bad; they say” he was with bad company”.
ANDY’S COMMENT WAS :” BAD COMPANY DID NOT ROB LIQUOR STORE YOUR SON DID.”
SAME IS THE CASE HERE THE OTHER GROUP DID NOT SPREAD VIRUS, TABLIGHI DID.
Nobody from Parliament was infected and nobody from the temples priests was infected. They all cooperated with Govt in closing tples which the Maulanas refuses. This is the difference.
Yogis pooja at ayodhya during lockdown seem to be corona free zone
Biased
Bark bark
Who cares
I feel pity for arnab goswami…. Poor guy is doing so much for whom… After all he has one daughter…and a wife to feed… I ask him…why do You do you have to do so much…
Beauty of our country is…. Bad things don’t stay long… This bad media who are spoiling the… Healthy atmosphere of OUR COUNTRY… Will not stay for long… Take care… God bless India??????
Send all of them to jannat, where they will live happily ever after.
Temples which were open at that time, didn’t have priests from abroad, who came on tourist visa
yess,….and it also called the bluff of the pissful religion on this planet…….
..bas**_*ds
We have all these people calling Print by all kinds of rather colour full names but none of them is interested in reading the story and reacting to some very basic questions, the time when the Jama at was holding the congregation, the parliament, both houses were in session and there were 400 pilgrims at Vaishno Devi Shrine and a similar no at the Ashram of SH Jaggi Vasudev, if the Jama at has to be prosecuted, the other parties also need to treated similarly, What do you say gentlemen?
Parliament or temples did not have 3000 members stuffed closed to each other most of whom were infected. Do not draw baselese references.
Rightly said. But did the vaishnodevi pilgrims had foreigners carrying covid.
Who spit and misbehaved with nurses and doctors ? These people. Actually they should be booked inder attempt to murder
We respect your religion but it is high time that Muslims boycott Muslims who bring shame to their religion. It is people like you who need to clear the filth of wahabi mindest being grilled in your youth rather thencbeing swayed by mullahs
Being a true human is more imp than being true muslim or a hindu
So nameless doctors and nurses are making claims and the nameless Muslims are not being heard. Everything is just fishy here.
If Tablighi was infected by Covid19, the Government should have quarantined them on time instead of waiting for them to spread everywhere. It is the Govt. responsibility and not the Tablighis. They didn’t have the resources and staying at the same place wouldn’t have solved anything. Instead, they complied with the Govt. decision and paid the price. Stupid Govt., they have no idea of what they are saying. If Tablighis have extended their stay, imagine the blame from paid chaps.
The Indian Govt. is good on blaming others and for sure they will blame the Muslims if things go out of control. Good for nothing. If they have taken decision on time and have communicated properly, then no one would have stranded like this. At present majority of Mosques are closed, madrasas are empty, and Muslims like Hindus are at home yet the RSS and the BJP govt. found their scapegoat in Muslims for their “to be” failure to control COVID19 spread.
Loser
You are a Criminal Shit minded scoundrel to whitewash the Brutal intentional misdeeds of Tablighi Zamat. While demeaning those who have factually mirrored the Horrendous Radical Criminal minded intentional spread of Carona Jihad You are failing to condemn the TTablighi Zamath even in the presence of ample Prima facie evidence.
Hand down your head in Eternal Shame and Disgrace to support such Terroristic criminals.
It’s very easy to target a community becz they r in centre of controversy becz of virus …if it was other community this channels won’t bark like dogs; its just a blame game game to hide other failures of government n to distract from migrant and other issues…yes cases came but why how ..who allowed who given visas ..wht government was doing??? Accountability shd be everyone not a single man or community…
We all know it from the moment it made on TV. Anyway, ignore the idiots. Govt. known only to blame Muslims instead of resolving anything.
Shekhar Gupta’s The Print is a clever fox; it does what it is paid to do all these years. Shekhar Gupta’s own role in Augusta Westland helicopters scam, incidentally, already under the lens. Don’t know what to call such media and their journalists.
Why don’t you go and hug one of those poor souls who attended the event in Delhi and console.
Haha
I dare you why not
Your community deserve this
we will not tolerate you people if you have to live in this country then follow the law in a very disciplined way otherwise it is better you leave this great country for ever becoz we Hindus have given the democracy to this great country and you don’t believe in the concept of democracy but always want to take advantage of democracy
Mr u r talking about democracy u know the meaning of democracy don’t talk about democracy… if Muslim community has done any think u are getting yelling on whole community then speak about other religious also n POLITICALLY also n about TELANGANA Chief minister Also otherwise don’t speak one side
Ha ha,the Print is calling other news channels communal and biased,joke of the century,by the way it is better to speak the truth and call out this radical islamic organization as a real threat and get called communal by the print rather than being called secular and support all the evil things committed by particular groups of people.
Yours is a anti national and anti Hindu media group ,you will be punished for the day your website is born
Sir I too watched the debate of Arnab Goswami.I have never seen anyone as rude as him on the screen specially when people are watching you How can one be so disgusting.For God sake please give others also chance to speak ,we are not sitting here only to watch and hear your loud mouth speak.
Muslims could have done with out the jamath. Now that they did break the ban.They have to face flak.
Tablighi jamat issue is only consequences and excellent dirty politics.
But why are unnecessary mentioning other news channels??by mentioning about other news channels your actually increasing the curiosity of people which will attract them more to these channels.
Secondly it was a clear fault of Maulana to call people for Namaz in Markaz .This was the clear violation of law which needs to be condemned across religion lines. They should personally called SDM for help if people were stranded.
Yes it’s true..!Tablighi jamaat is fully responsible…actually it looks like it is fully preplanned ….to spread corona all over india..We want tablighi jamaat banned n kick out of my country…..theprint.in is doing to coverup these jihadis…Shame…..these are all Deshdrohi..
Ban this archaic and regressive Jamat, which wants to take back muslims to 7th century.
Pankaj, don’t be so biased it’s not only jamat, all madira across were open till 20 th March n parliament were working till 23rd of March. Pls check the facts first, just don’t polarise the nation on the neme of Corona jihad or bhagwa corona.
I am equally harsh on any idiot, be it hindu or muslim, christian, sikh and what you have.
An honest and intelligent muslim ( Yes, there are such people amongst them), is an asset and an idiot and bigoted hindu is a liability. As simple as that.
Again, my contention to ban this organization is based on its teachings that want to take ummah back to 7th century, should not be opposed by you. If you go by my name, then, listen to Hassan Nisar.
you are very ignorant yourself. their intention is to destroy hinduism from india. they do not mind sacrificing their own lives for that sake.
The Print, one of the most biased media houses talks of other media houses being wrong. Irony indeed. I am blocking it from my feed
Shame on this article writer.
A real communalist.
Shekhar Gupta and his team continue its anti Modi and anti Hindu agenda with The Print. Quite expected….
Pathetic attempt at pandering by the Print, and not vice versa. If only there had been a real demographic partition of the country with regards to only this”peace loving community”, it would’ve been good riddance for the rest of the people of all religious communities. It is not hyperbole to call them the worst type of cancer or virus to infect society even in normal times. Phew!
Forget Hyperbole now that’s the hate speech, tell me what they did to u and your bloody family and people u know in normal times do reply and can take that fake doctor off your bloody name, coz your title and your mentality dont go hand in hand u can bloody kill on the basis of religion u hate spitting monger.
One of the best example of idiotic behaviour.
I couldn’t find a line written in the whole article but can sense it after every line “Meri payment ho chuki hai.”
You claim to be an intellectual but I was wondering how is it possible without a brain.
the channels you are supporting in this article makes it clear that you are not neutral The truth is in between these two sets of channels. Once a foreigner enter our soil you are asking the government to track where all they visit? Can you let me know which country on earth could do it? You need to call a spade a spade. By asking counter questions is only like Congress vs bjp fight.
These channels are dangerous then covid 19
You can’t handle the Truth?The Mulana went into hiding?Why? Dumb you.
Yes indeed! However if the guy who is spitting on doctors and medical staff is a Muslim that doesn’t count!
If BJP is questioned, it’s being rational. If Tablighi Jamaat is questioned, it’s communalism? Your views are personal and their views are public?
Yes. If the congregation was obstructed all the liberals would have come out and barked like dogs saying suppression.
None of them uttering a word now. Hope they didn’t die with Corona.
If you blame the Muslim leaders for the gathering, you must blame the central and state govts too for this. How can they allow such gathering specially when people from foreign countries(corona affected) come to join the conference?
The govt was also equally responsible. They didnot take adequate steps to stop the gathering. They have responsibility and so they had every right not to allow such gathering
Muslim leaders should be condemned and punish harshly for the crime they have conducted by violating the orders.
We, the poor Indians are the victims now both for this heinous crime conducted by the muslim religious leaders on humanity and for the callous handling of the case both by Modi govt and by Kejriwal govt.
If your parents would have known you will be as stupid as it reflects in your comment then they could have postponed your delivery time… I think this is quite similar what you have just stated.
अगर 3-4 दिन पहले लॉक डाउन / Lock Down बताया जाता तो भारी भगड़ार मचा होता . सारा लोग छुटी मनाने घर की तरफ भागता इसके बाद गंभीर परिणाम होता . कांग्रेस की तीन मूर्ति को कुछ समझ में नहीं आता है . मुस्लिम को कांग्रेस की सपोर्ट 65 साल से था अब इस Jammat जेहिदी की तिलमिलाहट बढ़ते जा रही है . इसको वही करना है जो सऊदी करता है . मुस्लिम लोक तंत्र और संविधान से पैदा हुआ ही नहीं ये लोग तो हमेशा हुकूमत और शासक के हाथो खेलते रहा . इसलिए ये जेहादी हमेशा भारत में खुराफात करते रहता है .Janmat is using Mosque as Mushafir khana .
Exactly. Why blame the jamat? Why blame the rapist? Blame the the person being raped because it was him/her who instigated the act.
Btw you seem quite dumb so please look up the word sarcasm in the dictionary.
Your account name and your comment are perfectly in tandem. No surprises here. God bless you in the ways you deserve.
Remove your bias.
World has seen real colours of Tablighi Jamaat !!!
TRUTH fears no investigation.
The Print is biased, is known to us…. Thanks for reminding it. Good u show the other side, but please don’t try to hide the reality too, wic u r very good at.
Blocking The Print from my read/watch list.
Stop bitching about other Indian media. Focus on your fact reporting and not some cock & bull story to defame India & its fight against COVID 19. Your anti India, anti Modi, anti Hindu, anti nationalistic stances are by now well known since you are a durbari Italian.
If the opinion is personal why do you publish it under your banner? In fact it is much more poisonous than those who have fangs!!
Is this the only article you are left with in times of such crisis? Well a tip, you must focus on publishing news, and not your personal views. Do justice with your profession otherwise quit. We are not fools here.
Futile attempt to defend the indefensible. Does the author know that the attendees did not co-operate when cautioned by the authorities? Can the author prove that the events quoted by him had corona inflicted people in the gathering? Does he not know that the exodus was the result of fake news circulated by media?
Dear comrade the politburo doesn’t not get to decide what is “rational” and who is secular.who are you to distribute certificates of secularism..Dont impose your values system and opinion on others.Dont try to regulate people opinion in name equality.Just like how you moderate reportage of events,comments as per your convinience and ones which suit your “secular” narative.
In response to this article “Tablighi Jamaat brought out Republic, Zee and Times Now’s fangs that Covid-19 had withdrawn”, I simply say behaviour of Arnab is so disgusting that you can’t hold your self except to say he is an idiot and not at all a civilised anchor from any standards. See BBC, Al-Jazeera TV even our own DD news channel or NDTV you will find a difference. The way these world class channels conduct themselves you understand their views and learnt a lot but if incidentally pause for a moment to see debate at Republic TV you will find a ring master of circus yelling and bullies at jokars. So, this kind of irresponsible behaviour and statements from likes of Arnab is nothing new and no one should take them seriously. Poor fellow are doing all these for ‘papi pet ka sawal hai’.
Adv. Shakil Akhtar
Supreme Court of India
#9717214471
I understand just like your world class religion.
Don’t take it literally
Attacking media houses won’t wipe out sin and crime . The speech of maulana saad is oprn and out. Laundering is not possible. A lawyer is lawyer in the court not outside.
Your majesty,
You passed a judgement on the irresponsible behaviour of Arnab or some XYZ news channel. Agreed they are irresponsible.
Your page long comment did not have a single mention of the following
1. Huge gathering in defiance of Govt orders including people from Corona affected countries
2. Participation of travel Visa holders in religious congregations
3. Gathering for prayers across the country in defiance of lockdown orders
4. Non cooperation with Govt to vacate the markaz building
5. Creating chaos and health risk in a country where all others are respecting each other’s life
What did your education teach you. Have some shame.
Who asked you to watch him
Tablighi Jihaad, my foot. But when did the truth get in the way of these guys rants?These idiots were responsible for major outbreaks in Malaysia and Indonesia (which quarantined around 9000 of these fools), both of which have large Muslum majority populations!
Is ISI FROM PAKISTAN using religious congregation to spread corona virus. Should NIA be given a mandate to investigate. Were people affected with corona virus specifically sent to religious congregation. Let NIA investigate and clear doubts and help stop speculation
#ISI#PAK#??????#POOR INDIANS???#Indian media??#MODI mad???#
People like u (and ur community) are like a ? tail..will never learn or mend ur ways..only knows to bark like a mad?..and bring misery to the country.
Well said#ISI#PAK…. So why don’t you cross over and go to #PAK. They will welcome you with folded hands and embrace you for your courage to call out names to this great nation of ours. Shame on you for your thoughts. You all cannot be a part of the world order as you all do not deserve to be
Why blame the JAMAT ? They were not elected with 305 seats.
The blame has to rest with Modi.
Do not bother about the media they have to worry about the viewership and that will not happen without controversies.
Watch only NDTV 24×7
Yes, blame should be on people like you, enemies within.
Your online portal and ndtv enjoy the lowest credibility among viewers. Some people have eyes to see but they are blind. Go on propagating half truths, like the one in alleged coup story a few years ago.
They also project lopsided view. The only difference is they are on the opposite side. People like Raveish Kumar clearly Sympathesize for Sharjeel Imam.
Lopsided view. No one needs to defend our News Channels. But they are right in criticizing the Tablighi Meet. In one week the Covid-19 count has risen from 1000 to 1965. Out of the growth of 965 cases around 450 pertain to this meet. How does the author defend this criminal act of openly flouting the government norms? You can criticize the government, but why defend the indefensible? Irresponsible religious leaders like Maulana Saad have done more harm to their own followers – many of these followers are now infected with the deadly virus. Who is responsible?
Mr. Arnab Goswami remains an unoffical spokesperson and active actor of the rulling BJP. rest is new,, a mockery to demonize the Muslims of our great nation. Good for guy looking for entertainment in these odd hours.
Arnab was demonizing tablighi jamat and that too for right reasons and not muslims of the country. It is unfortunate that muslims of the country identify themselves with tablighi and take it as personal attack. Need for muslims to come out of this sick mentality to live a healthy life to call a spade a spade and to call tablighi as mass murderers
You’re absolutely right!
And you of the ill that we begotted after independence.
How dare you speak against a particular community?
This particular commumity instead of hanging their heads in shame showing defiance and dare.
Thats why . We demand all TJ delegates be fined 50 lac each. Croak their properties and auction it to meet the cost of treatment .
Whith the same dare to push illiterate and inhumane people out of existance.
No other community is as religious obsessed as Muslims are . And no other community commit as many crimes as Muslims do. this is not only true in India, but in every western countries. How do you explain that?
It is the whole Muslim community who are identifying themselves with them. Nobody have blamed the Muslims but only TJ but alas you yourselves show who you are