'Is He IITian?' Arvind Kejriwal Brutally Trolled With Memes Over 'Singapore Variant' Gaffe

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s recent comment on a certain ‘Singapore variant’ of Covid-19 has sparked off a controversy. Amid a surge of coronavirus cases in India, fear has gripped the governments to constantly lookout for more effective ways to curb the transmission of infectious disease. In such times, Kejriwal warned the nation against a new variant that allegedly has its source in Singapore and warned the central government to restrict travel to the Southeast Asian country. “The new form of coronavirus in Singapore is said to be very dangerous for children. It could reach Delhi in the form of a third wave. My appeal to the Central government: 1. Cancel all air services with Singapore with immediate effect 2. Work on vaccine alternatives for children on a priority basis," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi on May 18.

However, his statement immediately drew a lot of criticism from the Singapore government as well as from India.

India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar reiterated that Kejriwal “doesn’t speak for India". “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.

Kejriwal had appeared to be referring to a media report that stated that a new coronavirus strain in Singapore is affecting its children. However, the strain B.1.617 in question was first detected in India.

While governments got busy engaging in a counter fight with each other, netizens were quick enough to jump to the social media platform with their wit to slam Kejriwal’s unverified facts with memes.

The Singapore Embassy in India on Tuesday hit out at the Delhi Chief Minister, saying that there was no truth supporting his remark.

“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 embassy said in a tweet.

In response, the spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry Arindam Bagchi said, “Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to the Delhi chief minister’s tweet on “Singapore variant". High Commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy."

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday evening reminded Kejriwal that international passenger flights to and from India have been suspended - with some exceptions - since March last year when the country went into a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

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