Community leaders slam Islamophobic tweets

abu dhabi — Members of the Indian community are in a state of shock as anti-Muslim tweets from some fringe elements surfaced. In the past few days, multiple tweets were posted by Indian expats blaming Muslim community for the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

Hitting hard at such fanatics, Mohan Jashanmal, an 81-year-old Indian businessman, underlined that human beings should serve others.

“A human being is a God’s blessing. We call ourselves human, but we need to ask ourselves — are we being a human?”

Addressing those who make anti-Islamic remarks, he said: “The coronavirus is not the enemy of any one religion. We are one human family of the world. Serve God’s creations and don’t create differences.”

Dr Azad Moopen, founder chairman and MD, Aster DM Healthcare, urged the public to stay united and focused in the fight against the pandemic.

“The visionary rulers of the UAE have made this country an oasis of peace and prosperity through the philosophy of tolerance. There are people from nearly 200 countries having different faiths and beliefs, who are co-existing harmoniously here. It is most unfortunate that a few people with pathological minds are trying to vitiate the atmosphere and produce religious hatred through social media. Let us ignore them and join together in the concerted fight against Covid-19.”

VTV Damodaran, head of Gandhi Sahitya Vedi, said he believed in oneness of mankind as one family.

“I hail from the land which believes in ‘unity in diversity’ and have been living in the ‘land of tolerance’ for more than two decades. I cannot imagine people talking about religious discrimination while living in the UAE, which practises tolerance in letter and spirit,” Damodaran said.

Yogish Prabhu, president, India Social and Cultural Centre (ISC), Abu Dhabi, condemned the comments from the fringe elements and said the developments are a “strange feeling”.