Lucknow, Apr 3 (IANS): The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has termed the Tablighi Jamaat as a factory of the novel coronavirus.

In a joint statement, VHP President V.S. Kokje, VHP International Working President Alok Kumar and General Secretary Milind Parande, said that instead of bringing people out of masjids, markaz and madrassas, the centre and the state governments should isolate and quarantine them there only to prevent the spread of the virus.

The VHP said that the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi could potentially foil the very objective of the nationwide lockdown, announced with the purpose of checking the spread of coronavirus.

The leaders said that when all other religious places have been shut during the lockdown, people from the Muslim community should also come forward to close masjids across the country till the crisis is over. They demanded that the government should cancel visas granted to the maulvis who had arrived in India from foreign countries and strict legal action be initiated against them.

The VHP also prescribed cremation for those who died due to COVID-19 without taking their religion into consideration. They said that the possibility of the spread of new coronavirus increases manifold if the body of a person who has died due to COVID-19 is buried.