New Delhi:
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday came forward in rescue of CM Arvind Kejriwal, following a row over the latter’s remark regarding the ‘new’ COVID strain in Singapore. Sisodia, slamming the Centre, said that the BJP government is more worried about Singapore and how Singapore views us, instead of worrying about how this new strain in Singapore may adversely affect children, if it is brought to India.
Addressing a digital press conference, Sisodia strongly slammed the BJP-led Central Government for their ‘inadequate and substandard’ COVID-19 crisis management.
It is worth mentioning that Kejriwal, on Tuesday, had urged the Centre 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,” the Delhi CM had said in a Hindi tweet.
Singapore reportedly on Wednesday summoned the Indian envoy and conveyed its ‘strong objection’ to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet on a ‘Singapore variant’.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s remark, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that the ‘Delhi Chief Minister does not speak for India,’ which received a ‘thanks’ from his Singapore counterpart.
However, Sisodia said, “CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday pointed out that the third wave of COVID-19 might unravel on young children and alerted the Central Government against this. However, instead of preparing or taking any action against this important news, the Central Government has shown condemnable behaviour by playing dirty politics of blame and lies.”
“CM Arvind Kejriwal rightly notified two facts to the public, first on the development of new strain in Singapore and second on how this strain might affect children and how we need to be careful. The Central Government instead of showing any concern towards the danger our children might be in, gave more attention to building its diplomatic image in Singapore,” he said.
“The unabated ridicule by BJP of CM Arvind Kejriwal only indicates that BJP and Central Government are more worried about Singapore and how Singapore views us, instead of worrying about how this new strain in Singapore may adversely affect our children, if it is brought to India. BJP is more worried about how Singapore will respond to our concern rather than our own children in India. They will not bring vaccines for children but worry about Singapore,” asserted the Deputy CM.
He further said, “If everyone correctly remembers, there was a new strain that emerged in London sometime back. The whole world was on alert because of this strain, doctors and scientists warned against this strain, but our Central Government did not show any concern or take any immediate action to ensure the strain isn’t reverted back to India. Now, the whole nation has had to suffer miserably because of Central Government’s sheer recklessness and London’s new strain.
“Whereas a timely alert against the new strain in London was directed to ensure that our nation appropriately prepares itself against COVID-19, BJP Government instead of doing something about it was just sitting around, not taking any strong action to prepare for this. The whole country is suffering today, our loved ones have suffered, we have had to face a deadly medical crisis. All this because our Central Government did not timely prepare the whole nation and our health care systems against this incoming crisis.”
Warning against the strain that has recently been discovered in Singapore, Sisodia said, “Today, our doctors and scientists are warning the nation against the new strain that has emerged in Singapore. Even the Supreme Court has mentioned that the next wave will adversely impact children. But our Central Government is least concerned about the chances of a third wave or how our children will have to face the brunt of it.”
He said, “The Central Government needs to prioritise our children first and foremost, instead of playing politics and fixing its image abroad. Delhi Government has always been committed and will continue to commit itself for the safety of our children. We want to protect and save our children from this deadly crisis. Our nation is worried for our children instead of how Singapore views us. The Central Government has just taken keen interest in glorifying its image abroad and helping other countries to accumulate vaccines but the Delhi Government will ensure that every step is taken to stop this new strain from affecting our children and keeping our children, our citizens completely safe.”
