The coronavirus preyed on the immune systems of individuals regardless of location, race, or religion, and in India it converged with Modi's rapidly spreading Islamophobia. Three months after the CAA was enacted into law, Muslim citizens were forced to face the compounded effect of hateful policy and popular scapegoating, during a global pandemic that was infected by a hysteria that knew no ceiling and had no exit. Islamophobia in India took its most vile turn yet as Hindu extremists, seeking to scapegoat Islam through any measure and purge Muslims from India by any means, blamed the outbreak of COVID-19 in India on no other than the country's Muslim community.

XREF: Connects to broader patterns of pandemic scapegoating and historical blame of minority groups during disease outbreaks.

Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamopho…, loc. 457