UnionHome Minister Amit Shah requested National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to getthe Nizamuddin Markaz vacated after the head of the Markaz, Maulana Saadrefused to yield to pleas from Delhi Police and security agencies to vacate theBanglewali Masjid.
According to the Home Ministry officials, Doval reached around 2 am on March 28-29 night at the Markaz and convinced Maulana Saad to get the occupants to be tested for COVID-19 infection and be quarantined. Shah and Doval were aware of the situation building up since the security agencies had tracked down the nine positive cases of Indonesians at Karimnagar in Telangana, to the Markaz on March 18 itself.
Analert has been sent by the security agencies on the Markaz infection the verynext day to all state police and subsidiary offices.
While the Markaz allowed 167 Tablighi workers to be hospitalized on March 27, 28 and 29, it was only after the intervention of Doval that the Jamaat leadership yielded to cleaning up of the masjid. Doval, for the past decades, has built very close connections with the various Muslim movements in India and abroad. He is on a first-name basis with virtually all the Muslim ulemas and spends time with them to form a national strategy for India.
