In an interview to ANI, he said “When a pandemic hits hard there are arguments, questions. People have spoken of elections, we are a democratic country, you don’t stop elections in a place like India,”
In the backdrop of an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases, the government’s failure to contain it, and subsequent global media criticism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has justified that COVID-19 is a global problem and that in a democratic country, “You don’t stop election in a place like India”.
In an interview to ANI, he said “When a pandemic hits hard there are arguments, questions. People have spoken of elections, we are a democratic country, you don’t stop elections in a place like India,”
He further said, in a seemingly apparent jibe at the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975, that “The only time we stopped elections was an era … some decades ago … when I was very much younger where none of us really wants to be associated with that kind of memory,”
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On being asked about India’s vaccine exports earlier and now being dependent on foreign aid, he termed it as friendship and as support.
“As I said COVID is a shared problem. Now look at last year when it came or even this year when it came to medicines, we gave hydroxychloroquine, paracetamol, we gave to the US, we gave to Singapore, we gave to European countries, we sent a medical team to Kuwait, we gave vaccines to some countries. Now what you describe as an aid we describe as friendship, as support.” the Minister said. He further added that it wasn’t right to project this as aid.
“Now what you describe as aid we describe as friendship as support,”
EAM S JAISHANKAR
S Jaishankar also dismissed criticism over elections held amid Covid as “point scoring” that needed pause.
“We are a very argumentative society. There will be this kind of point-scoring – somebody will say this crowd contributed to it, someone will say that crowd contributed to it. Somebody will say an individual or leader A didn’t wear a mask here. Somebody will say Leader B didn’t wear a mask there. In my view, we need to put a pause to it,” said the Foreign Minister.
It is worth noting that political rallies continued in full swing in all poll-bound by states by political leaders including Prime Minister Modi as India recorded over 3 lakh cases for the first time.
India recorded 3,82,315 COVID-19 cases and 3780 deaths in the last 24 hours.
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