Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 100,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca anti-coronavirus vaccine.
Recently, the Barbadian singer Rihanna has tweeted about farmers’ protest in India.
Her tweet resulted in a huge outcry and backlash in India.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, prominent ministers, Bollywood stars and cricketers have tweeted supporting India.
The Ministry of External Affairs said in a curt statement to tweets from Rihanna and other celebrities:
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible.”
“Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken”, the ministry added.
Police have detained 200 protesters following 26th January’s deadly violence in Delhi.
“We are making arrests after conducting proper verification. We are also looking into CCTVs near Red Fort, ITO, Nangloi and other areas where the violence erupted,” police officials told the Indian Express.
In January 2021, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley had requested India’s PM Modi for access to vaccines to provide immunisation coverage for their country, which has been ravaged by COVID-19.
In a letter to PM Modi sent on February 4, PM Mottley said:
“On behalf of my government and people, I wish you to express gratitude to you, your government and the people of the Republic of India for most generous donation of the Covishield vaccine (under the auspices of Oxford AstraZeneca).”
Her letter comes at a time when the international community has praised India’s support to the global COVID-19 response.
India has supplied COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbours including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh and is working on plans to scale up vaccine manufacture to supply to 60 nations.