Brickbats are pouring in on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and all from official sources after he asked for a suspension of flights from Singapore due to a “deadly variant” emanating from that country.
First Singapore government put out a tweet and summoned the Indian envoy to convey their “strong objection” to Kejriwal’s tweet on a “Singapore variant.”
The Indian envoy was told that Kejriwal doesn’t have “any competence” to comment on Covid variants or civil aviation policy.
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.
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 19, 2021
An upset Indian foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar soon tweeted that “irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So let me clarify—Delhi CM does not speak for India.”
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.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 19, 2021
“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,” the Foreign Minister tweeted.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal had urged the government to “cancel air services” with Singapore on account of what he called “a new form of corona that came to Singapore” and was extremely dangerous for children.
“The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government: 1. Air services with Singapore to be cancelled with immediate effect 2. Vaccine options should be worked out for children too,” Mr Kejriwal had said in a Hindi tweet on Tuesday.
Singapore put out a strong rebuttal last evening.
“There is no truth in the assertion that there is a new COVID strain in Singapore. Phylogenetic testing has shown that the B.1.617.2 variant is the prevalent strain in many of the COVID cases, including in children, in recent weeks in Singapore,” the Singapore High Commission in India tweeted.
