Naqvi slams Tablighi members, says they spread COVID-19 and now claiming to be 'corona warriors'

Amid reports of many Tablighi Jamaat members volunteering to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said those who committed the sin of spreading the virus through their "criminal conduct" are now claiming to be "corona warriors".

Naqvi said there is a "well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy" to prove every Indian Muslim as a Tablighi.

His remarks come after 10 members of Tablighi Jamaat, who attended its congregation and tested positive for COVID-19, have come forward and donated their plasma to treat severally-ill coronavirus patients in the national capital.

Several Tablighi Jamaat members at different quarantine centres have also volunteered to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients, sources said.

"Those Tablighi committed sin to spread corona through their 'criminal conduct' are claiming themselves to be 'corona warriors'. Amazing..instead of being ashamed of their crime,Tablighi(s) are insulting lakhs of corona warriors," Naqvi said in a tweet.

"This is called 'chori aur seena zori'," Naqvi added.

"Of course some patriotic Indian Muslims have donated plasma to the needy but it's not correct to call all of them Tablighi. There is a 'well-planned dirty Tablighi conspiracy' to prove every Indian Muslim as Tablighi," he said.

In the plasma therapy, transfusion of plasma from recovered patients to severally-ill COVID-19 patients is conducted. Convalescent plasma is an experimental procedure for coronavirus patients.

The move comes after an appeal was made by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week to patients, who have successfully recovered from coronavirus, to donate their plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Last week, Naqvi, while reacting to instances of Muslims being blamed for the spurt in COVID-19 cases after Tablighi Jamaat congregation here, had said the entire Muslim community cannot be held responsible for one group's "crime".

He had asserted that most of the minority community members have condemned the group's action.