Deepa Venkatachalam and Sarojini Nadimpally | The Wire | 13 April 2020
The responses to a public health crisis should not under any circumstances align themselves to communal overtones. Any such attempts divert critical public attention away from much needed civic responsibility, adherence and support imperative to ensure the health and well-being of all people, who may be affected regardless of their religious and other affiliations. Any attempts to shift the accountability of infection due to a pandemic of this magnitude to a congregation of persons is deplorable and counter-productive. Instead, governments must ensure that all necessary measures are undertaken to contain and manage the pandemic without compromising standards of human rights and public health. The rhetoric of communalism has no place in a secular democratic state nor in a public health response to a global pandemic.