Was the Centre late to react to the developments?
Date: April 1, 2020.
This artefact highlights the errors and lapses of judgment on the part of the government while handling the situation. The event was attended by hundreds of Indians and foreigners and was held even though concerns were raised by multiple nearby localities and journalists. However, no cautionary action was taken by the state government or the center. Many visitors of the event later spread out throughout the country to recruit more people for their cause, which made the potential spread of the virus worse and difficult to track down. This continued for almost three weeks before coming to the attention of the government. This later caused a public outcry as the unchecked foreigners were allowed to enter and roam the country in large numbers, at a time when it could be potentially hazardous to do so. While the government did put some restrictions on domestic air travel, no such actions were taken for railways or road travels, even though they are the primary modes of transport available in the country. The government later stated that these people were not allowed to perform missionary work as they only had tourist visas and were thus breaking visa laws. However, this in itself showed the relaxed nature of the center in enforcing rules and regulations during a time when it was crucial to do so. Also, both the center and the Delhi government failed to notice and predict the mass pouring of citizens and foreigners in the State for this event, even though it was common knowledge for most people living in the area and was reported on multiple local newspapers.
The event itself took place during late February but was already marked as a hotspot by Malaysia, the country where the headquarters of Jammat is situated, in the first week of March. However, no serious restrictions were put in place by the Indian government for another week in spite of various local reports of a rise in the number of cases, and the banning of religious congregations took even longer, by which time the missionaries of the event were spread all over the country. In fact, the evidence of the viral spread of the virus through the event was not noticed till mid to late March. Even after the significance of the event was discovered, the citizens of the mosque and the area of the gathering were not isolated and tested for a significant amount of time. This was because the government wanted to handle the situation diplomatically. However, it was within their legal power to take complete control of the area since it was for public benefit. Furthermore, it was reported that many of the foreigners living there were not evacuated as international travel was put on hold, and they had nowhere to go. All this showed the extent of mismanagement and lapses in administrative decisions by the government, which potentially caused the virus to spread rapidly and infect multiple people.
The Government's negligence contributed towards the increase of cases, and this, combined with the polarising rhetoric of media, led to the spread of mass fear and hysteria. This resulted in fake news, fake allegations, and violence against the Muslim community, which was again extensively covered by the media. The following artifact is an example of a fake allegation that led to an FIR but was later busted.