President Ram Nath Kovind, PM Narendra Modi afraid of 'Indian variant' of Covid-19: Kamal Nath

There is a growing chorus to refrain from referring to the so-called 'double mutant' strain of Covid-19, officially known as B.1.167 variant, as the 'Indian variant'

A day after the government asked social media companies to immediately remove any content from their platform that uses or refers to the term ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus, Congress leader Kamal Nath took a dig at President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nath alleged that the President and Prime Minister are afraid of the 'Indian variant' of Covid-19.

Also read — Govt asks social media firms to remove contents referring to ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus

"It started with Chinese corona. Now it’s Indian variant corona. Today, India’s President and PM are afraid of the Indian variant of Covid-19. What toolkit is this? Our scientists are calling it the Indian variant. Only BJP advisers are not accepting it," Kamal Nath said.

There is a growing chorus to refrain from referring to the so-called “double mutant” strain of Covid-19, officially known as the B.1.167 variant, as the “Indian variant”, highlighting the potential of social stigmatisation as a result of the usage.

Calls for a crackdown on the use of the phrase “Indian variant” have been building on social media as well, with Twitter users drawing parallels to the racist undertones that many critics had identified in using the term “Wuhan virus” in the early days of the Covid pandemic.