Singapore, MEA slam Kejriwal

Rezaul H Laskar and Sweta Goswami

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s remarks about a new coronavirus strain allegedly being detected in Singapore triggered a diplomatic spat on Wednesday, with the Southeast Asian country calling in the Indian envoy to lodge an objection.

Indian high commissioner P Kumaran clarified Kejriwal had “no competence” to comment on Covid-19 variants, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet. External affairs minister S Jaishankar described Kejriwal’s remarks as “irresponsible” and said the chief minister did not speak for India.

Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, hit out at the response to Singapore’s objection to the chief minister’s comments and added the Centre and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were only concerned about their image globally and not about the wellbeing of the country’s children. Sisodia added only Kejriwal is worried about the risk of children contracting the infection and not the Centre. “[Kejriwal] said that the danger of Covid-19 infecting more children is increasing. That is what it looks like going by the strain there [Singapore]... which is why it is necessary that we also remain alert... Singapore’s education minister had also given a statement that the risk of children getting infected is increasing. But today the BJP has started dirty politics on the issue,” said Sisodia.

Sisodia said the BJP and the Central government are only concerned about Singapore. “They won’t get vaccines for chil