In a major development related to the Tablighi Jamaat, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday has blacklisted 2,550 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members and banned their entry into India for 10 years.
The Jamaat members were staying in India during the nationwide lockdown.
All the Tablighi Jamaat members were accused of violating the visa rules.
The Tablighi Jamaat members were held responsible for spreading COVID19 infection in many parts of India including Northeast.
According to reports, many of the Covid19 cases in the Northeast were related to Tablighi Jamaat.
The Union Home Ministry has taken the action after various state governments provided details of the foreigners who were found to be illegally living in mosques and religious seminaries across the country.
More than 30 COVID19 positive cases reported in Assam had allegedly connection with the religious congregation held in March at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markz with presence of Tablighi Jamaat members.
Nizamuddin emerged as a major hotspot of Covid19 in the country after a number of Tablighi Jamaat members tested positive for the virus.
The MHA took the decision many state governments gave details of those purportedly staying illegally across the country.
Their activity came to the limelight following Delhi’s Nizamudding Markez episode where hundreds of Tablighi Jamaat members were staying together violating social distancing norms.
They were also found violating the lockdown rules.
After the incident, Tablighi Jamaat members across India were kept in 14 days quarantine and subsequently it was found that many of the members were infected with the disease.
The Tablighi Jamaat issue also raised a political storm in India with many political parties criticising the central government of targeting a particular community.