Project

Islamophobia and Coronavirus in India

In March, members of the Islamic missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat held its annual meeting in New Delhi’s crowded neighborhood with thousands of attendees. Soon after, the ruling government and allies started targeting the gathering as the key source of coronavirus spread in India. With the backdrop of the bloody riots ignited by the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a new wave of allegations and injustice committed against Muslims.

In India, as in the U.S., coronavirus has hit poor and marginalized populations especially hard—in this case, the country’s Muslims. These allegations led to a renewed wave of Islamophobia and some communities even banned Muslim vendors—of all sects—from entering their locality, fearing them to be the carriers.

Under Prosecution for Spreading the Coronavirus

"They treated us like an animal," a member of the Islamic missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat tells Pulitzer Center Justice Fellow Apoorva Mittal. Indian Muslims have faced a new wave of discrimination amidst the pandemic.