The Delhi Government, rightly concerned though it is about children, has stoked an unnecessary controversy

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government in Delhi and the Union Government once again find themselves at each other’s throats, their daggers drawn. The issue pertaining to the latest round of faceoff was rather innocuous. The Delhi Government basically pointed to a new COVID strain “originating from Singapore” and shared its apprehension that it could lead to a third wave of the pandemic in India. It appealed to the Union Government to cancel air services with the city-State which, as a Union Minister pointed out, had already been suspended in the absence of any “air bubble” passage with that country. This aspect of the so-called “Singapore strain” was strongly refuted by the South-East Asian country’s Government, with its Foreign Minister even saying that the allegation was “unfounded” and that the elected representatives should be serious and responsible with their statements. They even called in the Indian High Commissioner to convey strong objection to the tweet on the “Singapore variant”. Not choosing to close the episode here, Singapore has since ordered social media platforms Facebook and Twitter to carry a correction notice to users in the country over the “false statement” about the new variant originating in the city-State.

Soon after the news came out, the Indian Government quickly sided with the Singaporean authorities, saying that the Delhi Chief Minister “doesn’t speak for India”. Meanwhile, Singapore has shut down its schools as children there are getting more affected than the elders, but its Government stressed that the variant did not originate in Singapore. On the other hand, the country claims, it originated in India. Experts, however, are playing it safe as of now and saying that the infection is on “untraceable origin”. The highly contagious B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and has now spread to many countries across the world. Of course, the Delhi Government has every right to protect the interests of its citizens, especially since health is a State subject. It has also every right to voice its concerns, or even take up the cudgels against the federal dispensation on issues that it may feel wronged about. However, it doesn’t behove the Kejriwal Government, both in terms of constitutional propriety and the morality of the issue involved, to speak on subjects that fall outside the realm of its purview, especially influencing our country’s foreign policy.