‘Misbehaving’ Tablighis must be shot dead: MNS chief Raj Thackeray

Members of the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary group, who reportedly misbehaved with women medical staff during quarantine and are engaged in “some conspiracy” must be killed with bullets, said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday (April 4).

Questioning the need for providing medical treatment to such people, the MNS chief demanded videos of them being thrashed be made viral on social media, to instil sense of “trust” among people, reported news agency PTI.

He said the people would have felt satisfied had Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the current scenario and where the country is heading at in its fight against coronavirus than the latter just speaking about lighting up lamps and candles.

In his message to the nation, Modi on Friday asked people to switch off lights in their homes and light lamps, candles and switch on mobile phone flash lights at 9 pm on April 5 to display collective spirit to defeat the novel coronavirus.

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Speaking about harassment being faced by police and medical personnel, Thackeray said, “We can see the police being attacked and abused when they try to control the situation.”

“The meeting (of Tablighis had taken place) at Markaz in Delhi. Such people be killed by firing bullets at them. Why give them treatment? A separate section be created and their treatment be stopped,” Thackeray told reporters.

“If they think their religion is bigger than the country and want to engage in some conspiracy…they are spitting at people, on vegetables, roaming nude before the nurses,” he said.

Thackeray further said that videos of such people being thrashed should become viral, which will instil a feeling of trust among people. “The prime minister should have talked about it (in his video message on Friday,” he said.

Reports have emerged that Tablighi Jamaat members quarantined at a hospital in Ghaziabad misbehaved with the nurses, making lewd remarks and dropping their pants, provoking the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to invoke the stringent National Security Act against them.

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They are among the thousands who had attended a religious congregation at the organisation’s New Delhi headquarter, now being seen as a coronavirus hotspot.

Similar reports of the Jamaat members admitted to a hospital in Kanpur refusing to take medicines and misbehaving with the medical staff emerged on Saturday, prompting authorities to remove female staffers from there.

Meanwhile, he congratulated the Maharashtra Police for refusing permission to a Nizamuddin-like congregation in Vasai last month, thus averting the potential spread of coronavirus. He said Delhi Police did not realise the possible spread of coronavirus when the Nizamuddin congregation was allowed last month.

He further added that it was not the time to play the blame game. “It is also not the time to talk about religion too, but the kind of things some sections among Muslims are doing, they be thrashed now. They should remember the lockdown is for some days, we are there then (after the lockdown is over),” he added.

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Thackeray asked “whereabouts” of Maulvis (clerics), who he said otherwise ask community members about whom to vote for in elections have disappeared now and why they are not asking people to observe discipline.

He said the lockdown period may be extended if people do not observe discipline, which will badly affect industries and functioning of government, further leading to economic crisis.

Thackeray praised doctors, police and other government staffers providing water, electricity and food grains for risking their lives to serve the people. He also said the peace being experienced in Mumbai at present was not witnessed even after the 1992-93 riots in the city.

(With inputs from agencies)