Indian prime minister’s senior aide tests positive

‘I request that all of you who have come into contact with me in the last few days, please isolate yourself’

INDIA’S minister of home affairs has tested positive for Covid-19, leading to fears he could have infected Narendra Modi, the prime minister, after the pair attended the same cabinet meeting last Wednesday.

Amit Shah is one of the most powerful yet divisive figures in Indian politics. He led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2014 until January this year.

Mr Shah, who acts as the prime minister’s spokesman and campaign strategist, has been behind a string of controversial Hindu nationalist policies. In August last year, the government revoked the autonomous status that India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir had enjoyed since the nation’s independence in 1947.

While Mr Shah’s supporters argue it was necessary to bring the conflict-ridden region under greater central control, activists say it is an attempt to change the demographics of the region, with Indians from outside the territory now allowed to settle, buy land and obtain a government job.

The implementation last December of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which excludes Muslim refugees from a law that grants residency to people persecuted for their religious beliefs in neighbouring countries, also led to months of nationwide protests.

Mr Shah, 55, announced that he was Covid-19 positive on Twitter on Sunday: “After developing the initial symptoms of corona, I got the test done and the results came back positive,” he wrote. “My health is fine but I am being admitted to the hospital on the advice of doctors.

“I request that all of you who have come into contact with me in the last few days, please isolate yourself and get the test done.”

Mr Shah has taken a hands-on approach as India struggles to contain the world’s third-largest and fastest-growing epidemic, with more than 1.8 million cases. He has inspected a number of Covid-19 centres in New Delhi after residents complained that the city’s public hospitals were turning away Covid-19 patients because they were full up.

Mr Modi, 69, is yet to comment on Mr Shah’s diagnosis and it is unclear whether he will be self-isolating for the next fortnight.