Two Indians working in the UAE face police action and could be deported back to India for Islamophobia amidst the right-wing brigade making desperate attempts to vilify Muslims for the spread of coronavirus.
The first person facing punitive action is one Mitesh Udeshi, whose Linkedin profile says that he’s working as Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at United Al Saqer Group in Abu Dhabi. He is accused of posting a satirical cartoon mocking Islam on his Facebook page. He had used a cartoon to say that a ‘Corona Suicide Spitter’ could kill 2,000 people while a Jihadi suicide bomber could kill just 20 people by detonating explosives.
A report by Gulf News said Mitesh’s employer had taken a dim view of his Islamophobic social media post. “We are examining the case. Strict legal action pursuant to UAE laws will be taken against the man if our investigation reveals that it was he who put up that post. He will be sacked. We have a zero-tolerance policy,” the company’s legal representative was quoted as saying.
Mitesh’s post was in reference to the pro-Hindutva Indian media outlets’ attempts to link the spread of coronavirus to the Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim religious group.
Also facing action is one Sumeet Bhandari, who works as the ‘Director at Future Vision Events & Weddings’ in Dubai. He’s accused of asking an Indian job-seeker to go back to Pakistan because of his identity as a Muslim. The WhatsApp conversation of Sumeet with Shamshad Alam from the Indian state of Maharashtra had gone viral on social media last week.
Alam has filed a complaint with the Dubai Police, which has zero tolerance to racial discrimination.
In March this year, Dubai-based Indian chef Trilok Singh was sacked for issuing rape threats to a woman in Delhi on Facebook and abusing Muslims.
Last year, a UAE-based company Security-Transguard had sacked one of its employees for celebrating the New Zealand terror attack that killed 50 Muslim worshippers. The UAE government had later deported the man, identified as Rony Singh, to an unnamed country.
In 2018, a Gulf company had fired one of its employees from Kerala for an insensitive social media post mocking the plight of flood victims in the southern Indian state.
The same year, Dubai’s JW Marriott Marquis Hotel had sacked Chef Atul Kochhar, who ran the hotel’s Indian restaurant, Rang Mahal, inside its premises after he sensationally posted hateful tweets against Islam and Muslims.