“Soft bigotry”: AAP faces flak for highlighting Muslim countries that received vaccines from India, updates list after condemnation; Varun Grover leads charge

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Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Monday faced widespread condemnation for alleged ‘soft bigotry’ and ‘Islamophobia’ after it tweeted a list of Muslim countries, who had received vaccines from India.

While attacking the Centre’s Narendra Modi government, the AAP tweeted a list of 18 countries, all with a predominantly Muslim population. Its tweet read, “Who did Narendra Modi get votes from? India. Who did Narendra Modi give vaccines to? Pakistan, Palestine, Iran, the UAE, Syria, Egypt, Oman, Kuwait, Yemen, Nigeria
Bahrain, Somalia, Morocco, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia.”



Mincing no words, stand-up comic and writer, Varun Grover, termed the AAP’s action ‘soft bigotry. He wrote, “As citizens of the world we should be proud of this gesture of caring for all of humanity. The right question to be asked is why didn’t they care equally for Indians too. (And your selective list is soft bigotry. Am sure you guys know that, unfortunately.)”

Journalist Harini Calamur wrote, “I am aghast at this kind of #Islamophobia @AamAadmiParty. Please find the list of countries (95 countries – https://mea.gov.in/vaccine-supply.htm) that India has supplied vaccines. And, please talk about why you are only targetting Islamic Nations?”

This is how Twitterati reacted;







According to the Indian ministry of external affairs, India had exported vaccines to at least 95 countries. But the AAP’s list included only Muslim-majority nations. Faced with widespread condemnation, the Kejriwal-led party posted more tweets highlighting the names of other countries two hours later.