Coronavirus: Arvind Kejriwal was speaking of the success of plasma therapy in Delhi.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today tucked in a message of religious amity in his daily briefing on coronavirus. Speaking of the success of Delhi's first case of plasma therapy, he said, plasma knows no religion or creed.
"We are requesting those who have recovered to donate their plasma. I am happy that everyone wants to come forward and save other people's lives. Those belonging to different religion, different caste, they have "jasba" (enthusiasm) on how to save other people's lives," the Chief Minister said.
"I had a thought in my mind, if tomorrow a patient, let's think a Hindu, who is serious gets saved by plasma donated by a Muslim, or a Muslim patient who is serious, is saved by the plasma from a Hindu. When god created earth, he just created human beings. Every human has two eyes, one body, their blood is red, and plasma. God did not create a "deewar" between us," he added.
The Chief Minister's words came after a controversy over Muslim religious group Tablighi Jamaat's Delhi gathering. Several thousands of people across the country had contracted the infection after the gathering, which was held in violation of the social distancing rules and the Central ban on religious meets.
A privately-run cancer hospital in western UP's Meerut said Muslim patients and their attendants would only be admitted if they tested negative for the COVID-19 virus. The outrageous declaration was made in an ad posted in a local newspaper, for which the hospital later apologised.
Recently, 101 former bureaucrats wrote to Chief Ministers of states, expressing concern over the "harassment" of Muslims in parts of the country. They said the action of Tablighi Jamaat was "misguided and condemnable", but blamed some sections of the media for fuelling hostility.
"At least we can learn this from coronavirus -- If all India, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, work together, then no one can defeat us… I believe that you should think about this if ever you have any ill feeling about someone from the other religion that his plasma could save your life," Mr Kejriwal said today.