India experienced a sharp rise in its number of confirmed cases following the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic missionary gathering that happening in Delhi early March. This is termed as what the authorities have named it the “super spreader” of the virus in India.
The Union health ministry in India reported that 29.8% of the total cases of the coronavirus in India are because of this gathering. But, with these news, the same has given rise to a new wave of Islamophobia and prejudice in the country and also overseas.
Sohan Roy, an NRI who is the CEO of Aries group of Companies, reportedly apologised for one his poems for “unintentionally hurting religious sentiments” with a poem that he wrote. The company focused on maritime industry and has its headquarters in Sharjah.
Roy hails from Kerala and founded the Aries group in 1998. He also writes poem and has even directed short film.
Roy released a poem in Malayalam titled Viddi Janman (fool’s life). The poem was picked up by Gulf News, a popular daily in UAE stating how the poem alluded the Covid-19 outbreak to religious beliefs of people.
The poem didn’t straight up mentioned any religious beliefs in it but the visuals of the poem was enough to highlight the stereotypical image of a Muslim preacher leading the troop blindfolded. Many people who read the poem alleged that the same highlighted the Tablighi Jamaat gathering.
Roy informed Gulf News that the visuals were an honest mistake made by one of his graphic designed based out of Kerala and was not intentionally done.
In an issued stated, Roy stated saying, “There was no malicious intent. It was an honest mistake. That said, I take full responsibility of what has happened. I am sorry if I have unknowingly hurt any religious sentiments. I don’t want to be dragged into a controversy. As soon as I realised that people had been offended, I did a Facebook Live video and apologised.”
Roy clarified that he doesn’t harbour any kind of ill feelings or intentions against any community in the country. His poem, he said, takes a dig at the people who make a mockery out of the lockdown restrictions that have been imposed to contain the spread of the virus in India. These preachers are not necessarily Muslims, he said.
Roy has even said that one of his 90,000 sq. ft house in Kerala has been given out as an isolation centre in Kerala. He also claimed to have donated 10 ventilators to the Kerala Government to fight this deadly infection.
The controversy surrounding this was first pointed out by UAE businesswoman, Sheikha Hend Al Qassimi who called him out saying that anyone who is openly racist or Islamophobic in UAE are going to be fined and banned from the country.
