Muslims being projected as enemies through constant campaigns: Prof. Apoorvanand
He was delivering B.V. Kakkilaya inspired oration on “Innards of contemporary social discourse”
Mangaluru: Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand on Saturday said there is a need of a pedagogy of solidarity to counter campaign against Muslims and other minority communities. He was delivering the B.V. Kakkilaya inspired oration on “Innards of contemporary social discourse” here in the city.
Prof. Apoorvanand said a constant campaign was being held to brand Muslims as enemies.
"Muslims earlier were blamed for being backward. Now they are being branded as anti-national and accused of involvement in “business jihad, UPSC jihad, land jihad, and education jihad." He said.
“This jihad is being thrust on us and we are asked to take sides,” he said adding that the minorities were being projected as enemies.
Speaking about the several campaigns including boycotting of movies starring Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, issues like love-jihad, hijab, call to drive Rohingyas out, and voice against namaz in airport and railway platforms that are being run by the fringe elements, Prof. Apoorvanand said "These are the ways in which this bug of hatred is being created, which leads to violence,”
As a counter in this sinister campaign, Prof. Apoorvanand said Hindus should stop getting obsessed with issues concerning Muslims. “Please learn to detach. This indifference alone can save us,” he said.
There should be collective battle to preserve liberty, equality, justice and solidarity, which are the four values enshrined in the Constitution. Former MP late BV Kakkilaya, he said, has shown the possible pedagogy of solidarity. “We can disagree and disperse, but we (communities) should keep talking to each other,” he said.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
