Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, India’s biggest socio-religious organisation, has started a massive countrywide relief work for poor people and migrant workers facing problems, particularly of food and medicines, after the 21-day lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 evening. India Tomorrow is running a series on the ongoing relief works of the Jamaat. This is the first part of the series.
Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MARCH 30—Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, India’s biggest socio-religious organization, has launched a massive nationwide relief work for poor, daily wage workers, street vendors, cycle-rikshaw pullers and migrant labourers affected by the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi abruptly on March 24 evening to contain the fast spreading COVID19.
Ever since the lockdown was clamped, the Jamaat mobilised its cadres and workers all over the country to provide cooked food, ration kits, masks and sanitizers, while at the same time themselves taking precautions like wearing masks, using sanitisers and maintaining social distancing to combat the deadly infection.
Delhi
In Delhi, the Jamaat is providing ration kits worth Rs. 1,000 to each of the poor families, atta (wheat flour), rice, pulses, sugar and other items. It is carrying out relief work through the centres the Jamaat has set up at Bawana, Sultanpuri, Jahangirpuri, Jaitpur, Kanchan Kunj, Shaheen Bagh, Abul Fazal Enclave, Zakir Nagar, Trilokpuri, Seemapuri, Shaheed Nagar, Mustafabad, Jafarabad, Loni, Yamuna Vihar and Vijay Park.
JIH Secretary Raziul Islam Nadwi and Assistant Secretary Inamur Rahman doing relief work in Delhi
JIH Vice President Mohammad Salim Engineer distributing relief material in Delhi
JIH Member Mohibbullah Qasmi distributing relief among poor in Delhi
“We are providing both cooked food as well ration kits, depending on the requirement of the people. We have so far distributed thousands of ration kits and the work is still going on. It will continue till the situation normalises”, Abdul Wahid, Delhi state president of the Jamaat said.
“We are doing the relief work and distributing food materials among people, irrespective of their faith and religion”, Wahid said.
He said that the Jamaat at some of the places has roped in the local ration stores and asked them to give certain amount of ration to those who come to them with a specific slip signed by the local Jamaat official.
Giving clear figures, Nadeem Khan, who is in-charge for cooked food distribution in Delhi, said: “For the past 10 days, we had been distributing 1,000 food packets. Today (Monday) was the third day of our food packet distribution at massive level. On first day, we distributed 4,200 packets, 5,000 packets on second day and today we distributed 5,800 food packets.”
Wahid said that the Jamaat in Delhi had also begun relief work for the victims of the anti-Muslim violence in northeast Delhi in February but it has been temporarily suspended owing to the lockdown. “We wanted to repair their houses and held restart their business by providing them e-rickshaws and handcarts but all these work has stopped now”, said Wahid.
Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, Jamaat has so far distributed 3285 ration kits, each consisting of 10 kg atta, 5 kg rice, 1 kg pulse and 1 litre of cooking oil among poor people in several parts of the state.
“We have also distributed over 11,000 ready-to-eat food packets and cash amount of Rs 1 lakh approximately. We have so far been able to reach 15,000 people. We have also distributed 4,600 masks,” said Dr Mohammad Iqbal, Jamaat’s Rajasthan state secretary.
“The Jamaat workers in collaboration with other social groups and with the support of donors, are busy in distributing ration kits at the doorsteps of the needy persons,” said Jamaat’s Rajasthan president Mohammad Nazimuddin.
We Directed Our Cadres to Start Humanitarian Aid: JIH Vice President Mohammad Salim Engineer
The zonal and district offices of Jamaat were issued circulars from the headquarters last week, asking them to make people aware about the Coronavirus and also help the needy people with grains.
“We had issued instructions to our cadres with regard to Coronavirus. We had asked them to create awareness about the epidemic among common public. We had also asked people to offer namaz at home instead of mosques. Besides this, we had also told them that the lockdown will create problems for daily-wagers and labourers and therefore, our Jamaat units, in collaboration with other groups and individuals, should make arrangement for food for such people and even lodging for those who are homeless,” Mohammad Salim Engineer, Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, told India Tomorrow.
“We told our cadres that this is the time to serve the humanity without any discrimination of faith,” said the Jamaat leader.
“In Delhi on Saturday, workers from Jamaat and affiliates distributed cooked food among 7,000 people – most of the beneficiaries were our brothers from majority community. We are doing our relief work without making any discrimination on the basis of faith,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh
The Jamaat is aggressively carrying out relief work in 30 districts of the Eastern UP.
Giving details, Eastern UP Jamaat-e-Islami Hind president, Malik Mohammad Faisal, said, “We are providing ration kits each worth Rs 1,000 to the needy people. We have directed our volunteers to wear all safety measures like masks and keep safe distance while distributing relief materials. Around 3,000 people have been given such kits so far.”
JIH Member distributing ration in Allahabad
Ration stocked in Gorakhpur for distribution among poor
JIH Member distributing ration to a poor whose face was hidden to hide his identity
Bihar
In Bihar, Jamaat workers are running relief works in several districts.
“Our volunteers have distributed masks and sanitizers among hundreds of people in Kosi and Purnia. In cities like Patna, our members have prepared list of those people who need grains and are providing them ration kits for different periods like one week, two weeks and even for one month. In Patna City area, we have distributed such kits for one month among people without discrimination of religion,” said Bihar Jamaat president Mohammad Rizwan Islahi.
JIH worker giving ration to a needy in Patna
Member of JIh’s student wing SIO giving ration to a needy in Motihari
JIH cadres giving ration to people in Hajipur
In some areas, Jamaat workers have tied up with local ration stores to distribute ration among needy people.
“In Nawada, Motihari and Saharsa districts also, needy people are being provided ration kits. We have tied up with local ration stores to provide grains in certain quantity (like 5 kg rice, 3 kg atta and 2 kg pulse etc). In the evening, we pay the amount to owners of the ration stores”, he said.
In some districts, Jamaat’s local units have written to respective District Magistrates offering help to them.
“In Patna, Motihari and Araria, our unit presidents have written to District Magistrates making two offers: If government needs volunteers for distribution of its relief materials, we will provide them such volunteers. We have also offered to provide funds to them to accelerate their work. We have also sought permission to allow us to move in various areas and help the needy people,” said state Jamaat president.
In some areas like Phulwari Sharif of Patna, Jamaat cadres are working in collaboration with other groups like Peace Foundation, Rabta Committee and Koshishi.
“We have started work in the last three days. We have no idea about when the lockdown will end. But we think this lockdown will continue for long, so we are now chalking out a long-term plan. We are seeking permission for travelling through various areas to assess the requirement of relief,” said Rizwan Islahi.
West Bengal
Jamaat workers are extending relief work in 1,500 localities across the state.
“We have started relief work in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas and are going to expand it in the entire state. As initial amount, we have released Rs 2.5 lakh from our relief fund for this purpose,” Bengal Jamaat president Abdur Rafiq told India Tomorrow.
West Bengal JIH purchased grains for distribution among poor
JIH workers in West Bengal preparing packets of grains for distribution
“We have asked our local units to distribute packets of grains among the needy persons. Each kit carries grains that are enough for 10 days. We will provide next batch of help after that period. So far, we have distributed such kits among 300 families. We started this work on March 27. We are going to expand our work in 1,500 localities across the state,” he informed.
