A danger that throughout history has accompanied pandemic disease is rising discrimination. People, especially when there are unknowns and disruption, fixate on who to blame. This often falls on specific communities, usually religious or ethnic minorities. Violence and prejudice, often far outlasting the pandemic, have resulted. A prominent example is the fourteenth century bubonic plague, when Jews were accused of spreading disease. “During times of crisis, people revert to their identities and search for others to blame for their problems,” Asim Ali, a researcher at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, reminded us. 
 
Such scapegoating and discrimination are sadly in evidence in different places during the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation in India, with a long history and countless complexities, is a case in point.
 
Long-standing interreligious tensions and inequalities affecting Muslims have been fueled in recent years by rising Hindu nationalism and some government policies. The passage of a Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019 provided fast-track Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from surrounding countries. The act is widely seen as discriminatory and undermining India’s secular constitution, and tensions mounted with its passage, leading to hundreds of arrests.
 
The COVID-19 crisis pattern in India is traced back to a three-day meeting of an Islamic missionary group (the Tablighi) in March that became a hot spot for the virus. After the Tablighi event, dozens of fake videos which showed Muslims flouting physical distancing rules and spitting on people circulated widely on social media. Various forms of backlash against Muslim-owned business were reported. India’s Muslim community (14 percent of the population) now faces a surge of threats and fake news that targets and blames them for spreading the virus. Some members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party have openly blamed Muslims for the spread of the virus, though Modi himself issued a statement on his LinkedIn page imploring the nation to unite. But those arrested during India’s lockdown cannot get legal aid due to COVID-19 restrictions. In sum, the pandemic is igniting pre-existing religious and social tensions in India. Leadership and interfaith action to promote unity are sorely needed.