Arvind Kejriwal has kicked up a diplomatic row with Singapore with his social media claim about a Covid strain in that country, drawing a sharp response from the city state that was in turn used by the Narendra Modi government to settle political scores with its bête noire in the national capital.
After Kejriwal’s remarks were splashed across newspapers in Singapore on Wednesday along with the Singaporean health ministry’s rebuttal, the country’s foreign minister first publicly ticked off the Delhi chief minister. The Singapore government then summoned India’s high commissioner who clarified that Kejriwal had no competence to speak on Covid variants or determine India’s civil aviation policy.
Later in New Delhi, Singapore’s high commissioner expressed satisfaction with India’s clarification while stating that his country reserved the right to invoke the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (PoFMA) against Kejriwal.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal had tweeted in Hindi that a new Covid strain that he claimed had emerged in Singapore was reported to be very dangerous for children and that it could trigger a third wave in India. He had demanded a temporary ban on flights from Singapore and a plan to vaccinate children.
Responding to Kejriwal’s tweet, Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan told him on the micro-blogging site: “Politicians should stick to facts! There is no ‘Singapore variant’.”
This was followed by the summoning of the Indian high commissioner in Singapore, which was officially confirmed by the Indian external affairs ministry. Rarely does the ministry officially confirm such summons of mission heads by the host country.
External affairs ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted: “Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to Delhi CM’s tweet on ‘Singapore variant’. High commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy.”
Kejriwal, however, had not used the specific term “Singapore variant”.
Subsequently, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar tweeted: “Singapore and India have been solid partners in the fight against Covid-19. Appreciate Singapore’s role as a logistics hub and oxygen supplier. Their gesture of deploying military aircraft to help us speaks of our exceptional relationship.
“However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So, let me clarify — Delhi CM does not speak for India.”
A Twitter user was quick to point out if any such comments had been made when a leader had called people from Bangladesh “termites”, a reference to Union home minister Amit Shah’s diatribe on “infiltrators”.
Thanking Jaishankar for the clarification, his Singaporean counterpart Balakrishnan said: “Let’s focus on resolving the situation in our respective countries and helping one another. Nobody is safe until everyone is safe.”
Late in the night, Singapore health ministry invoked PoFMA to issue correction notices to Facebook and Twitter that there is no “Singapore strain”.
The Aam Aadmi Party took on Jaishankar for what it saw as a dilution of the core issue raised by Kejriwal.
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said: “Central Government (is) interested in glorifying its image in Singapore and other nations rather than protecting our children. Issue is not Singapore, it is about protecting our children. When will our Central Government wake up to save our nation’s children from the third wave?”
Kejriwal himself did not comment on the controversy but tweeted about a meeting he held on preparing for the impending “third wave” from which “children need to be saved”.
‘Indian variant’
On May 4, the Singapore health ministry had referred to the B.1.617 strain as the “Indian variant” as an explanatory note in a daily update.
Detailing the variants in Singapore, the ministry had said: “As of 3 May 2021, we have detected eight local cases with the B.1.351 (S. African) variant, seven local cases with the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, seven local cases with B.1.617.2 (Indian) variant, three local cases with P1 (Brazilian) variant, three local cases with B.1.617.1 (Indian) variant, and one local case with B.1.525 (UK2) variant.”
Given how India has bristled at the strain being referred to as the “Indian variant”, The Telegraph asked the Indian external affairs ministry on Wednesday if the high commission in Singapore had red-flagged this reference with the government there. Till late in the evening, there was no response from the ministry.
