India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, APRIL 6—Islamophobic hashtags like #CoronaJihad and #TablighiJamaatVirus appeared on social media immediately after the news surfaced on March 29 that about 4,000 people were staying at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters at Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi despite a total lockdown to combat the dreaded coronavirus.

And the government officials immediately linked it to the spread of coronavirus in India and media calling the Markaz as ‘hotspot’ or ‘epicentre’ of Covid-19 disease, directly holding Muslims responsible for the spread of the virus throughout the length and breadth of the country. The reports say that tweets with #CoronaJihad appeared at least 4 lakh times and seen by more than 170 million people on the twitter, an indication of the anti-Muslim hatred that resulted in discrimination against Muslims, particularly fruit and vegetable vendors and other small traders and their boycott at different places in the country because they were painted by media as carriers of the coronavirus. Cartoons appeared on social media and also in English language daily-The Hindu, one of the most serious and secular newspapers in the country-with a man in Muslim attire trying to spread coronavirus. There was severe criticism to it from Muslim intellectuals and activists but the twitter did not delete the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic hashtags what to talk of taking action against such hate-mongers. The Hindu, however, took down the cartoon online and replaced it with another cartoon with a neutral representation of the attire. It also apologised saying the previous cartoon in Muslim attire was unintentional. However, the Government of India did not initiate any action against online hate-peddlers though there are clear provisions in The Information Technology Act, 2000, to take stern action against people using internet and social media propagating hate.

As if it was not enough to make the things going tough for Muslims in the country, an Indian professor working in a Kuwait University allegedly endorsed a Facebook user’s post that called for genocide or mass massacre of Muslims on the ground that they are spreading coronavirus. The professor in question is Mr. Nandakumaran Moorkath, sounding a Hindu name.

The Facebook user that goes by the name of ‘Sudheer Birodkar Parab Avon’ had made a very hateful and incriminating post in which he demanded that Coronavirus-driven lockdowns “be converted into an opportunity with Emergency powers to suspend Constitutions and Judiciaries globally and deploy militaries across the globe wherein millions of GPS enabled missiles are launched to greet the namazis on Ramzan Eid prayers and fix appointment of all namazis globally with the 72 houris (untouched females in Paradise).”

Kuwait University Should Act Against Professor: Facebook Users

While many denounced Sudheer’s post, many supported his idea in comment section below the post. Mr Moorkath also made a comment which apparently endorsed the post. Many users on Facebook and Twitter strongly criticized the professor for his alleged endorsement and called the Kuwait University to take action against him. Here are some:

@sherazahmad77: Plz take note @manpowerkwt , @Kuwaitmoh , @K_University, @kuwaitpolice3 ,  @MOInformation, @MOEKUWAIT . Dr. Nandakumaran Moorkath Medical Faculty at Kuwait University endorsing geocidal posts and liking missile attacks on Muslims during eid prayers.

@upfrontpanda: @K_University Your employee Nandakumaran Moorkath is suggesting genocide of all faithfull Muslims as treatment to Corona.

@aamyrk: @K_University  Please take action against your professor NANDAKUMARAN MOORKATH for favouring Islamophobic genocidal posts...Hope you act swift and do not promote such kind of hatred in your esteemed institution Jazakallah khair.

Navaid Hamid, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, also went to Twitter and condemned the comment and demanded action.

“Unfortunately, these guys who are foot soldiers of the Sangh ideology. They work and earn in these Muslim countries but spread hatred on social media against Muslims. They are basically proponent of Hindutva terror and they should be booked as per the existing laws of the countries where they are living,” said Navaid.

My Facebook Account was Hacked: Professor

When the professor came under severe criticism for endorsing the hateful and incriminating post, he claimed his Facebook account was hacked.

“Thanks for all supporters though some seem to have been mis-led by posts that hackers have posted using my hacked FB ID! I am reporting to FB that some of my posts are being posted by using my hacked email ID and asking for help to prevent hacked posts in future and to punish the hackers too,” claimed the professor.

Indian Union Muslim League leader and MP E. T. Mohammed Basheer said thousands of people are posting non-sense things on social media and there is no mechanism to filter them and it is difficult to say with authenticity if such statement is really made by a particular person.

“In social media anybody can write anything because you cannot filter it. There is authenticity issue about that. Some people may say something and you cannot filter that. In this case, I am not sure that a man has made a statement like that. In the debate on social media, it is wise not to interfere. Some people may say some nonsense, others may have replied in same tone. Thousands of remarks are posted. Some may be true and some others may be false. Nobody can say whether it is correct or not - whether the statement has really been made by him. So, I think it is better to keep mum on this,” said Basheer, Lok Sabha MP from Ponnani in Kerala.

India Tomorrow has approached the Kuwait University for comment. Their response will be included in this story as and when we receive it.

Kejriwal won because “millions of educated Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists etc did not vote” in Delhi election: Kuwait Professor

Meanwhile on Sunday, Prof. Moorkath wrote a long and controversial post on Facebook wherein he fiercely advocated for compulsory voting in India. He even went ahead to say that Arvind Kejriwal won Delhi elections because “millions of educated Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists etc did not vote”.

“India has a gutter grade democracy decided by the larger number of illiterate and poorly informed and poorly empowered voters and that unless voting is made compulsory, Dacoits and Looters and Tricksters could pose, like wolves in sheep clothing, that they will remove poverty and make the nation super power etc etc…” he wrote.

Later on, he described Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as “SUPER QUALIFIED dacoit Kezriwaal” who, he said, would not have come to power if 90 percent of voters had cast their vote.

“If the condition of compulsory voting or condition of 90 percent minimum polling was there, none of the above dacoits and looters would have become MP or MLA and they would not have looted our wealth of trillions and trillions of dollars and remember one of the dacoits and immoral demagogues is the IIT- trained, SUPER QUALIFIED dacoit Kezriwaal too!!!”

As the professor concludes his point he makes his mind clearer to the readers when he says that “millions of educated and highly educated Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists etc did not vote” in the Delhi election.

“If there was 90 percent polling percentage in Delhi elections, kezriwaal and AAP would not have got even ten seats and since the polling percentage was about 60 percent and millions of educated and highly educated Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist etc did not vote, it was larger number of fools and morons and gullible voters who voted for kezriwaal and goons since they were fooled by the freebies, lies and stunts,” wrote Moorkath.

He ends his post on these lines: “Unless we have urgent reform of the election systems to make 90 percent minimum polling mandatory for election to be valid, hundreds of power-hungry and immoral and highly-qualified goons, dacoits and looters could get elected as MP or MLA and could make us a super banana republic too!!! Sadly millions and millions of educated and highly educated Hindus and patriots are in deep asleep and even do not show guts even to past support.”