Ever since her son’s OCI status was revoked by the Indian government, journalist Tavleen Singh has made it her habit of nitpicking over trivial things, just to take on the Modi government and belittle the country as incompetent and inept. This time around, it was something as insignificant as the size of the vaccine certificate issued by the Centre that had her outraged.
Ms Tavleen Singh has been fussily pedantic about the size of the vaccine certificates issued by the government. Earlier yesterday, dissing against the size of the vaccine certificates, Singh pontificated on Twitter that India needs to urgently reduce their size, adding that most countries have cards just bigger than Aadhaar cards that are portable and easy to carry around. “Why do we need a sheet of A4 size paper?” she asked
India needs to urgently reduce the size of vaccination certificates. Most countries have cards just bigger than Adhaar cards that our easy to carry around. Why do we need a sheet of A4 size paper??
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) August 9, 2021
To this tweet, one of the users took a sly dig at the journalist, informing her to use the latest WhatsApp certification started by India’s health minister. He further suggested Singh to keep a soft copy of the vaccine certificate on herself so that she would not have to carry physical copies of certificates everywhere.
But, as has been the case with Ms Singh of late, she refused to heed to the sensible suggestion. Instead, she ploughed on her with assertion, saying: “Try using it at an international airport. And, by the way, our vaccination certificates are a fine example of Third Worldism”.
Try using it at an international airport. And, by the way our vaccination certificates are a fine example of Third Worldism. https://t.co/txIzvDZ6f7
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) August 9, 2021
While Ms Singh might be a Luddite, finding her way with technology difficult and cumbersome, India’s vaccination certificates are by no means emblematic of Third Worldism, not by a long shot. Another Twitter user took a stab to disabuse her of the notion that vaccination certificates issued by India are difficult to carry as compared to those issued by the Western countries, including the United States.
The user shared the image of a physical vaccine certificate issued by the United States government alongside the digital copy of the vaccine certificate issued by the Indian government. The user pointed out that the US government still relies on handing out physical copies of vaccine certificates while the Indian government has gone a step further and started giving out online and easy-to-carry online certificates.
But, Ms Singh, having tied herself in knots, dug her heels in and continued to maintain that Indian vaccine certificates are inferior as compared to the western ones. “Actually this was my point. What exactly are you trying to say? Are you saying that a large piece of paper is better?”
Actually this was my point. What exactly are you trying to say? Are you saying that a large piece of paper is better? https://t.co/dXym1ql35r
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) August 10, 2021
Ms Singh deliberately chose to ignore the fact that India’s vaccine certificates can be carried digitally on mobile devices as against physical certificates issued by western countries, which are prone to forgery and misplacement. She could not acknowledge the fact that not only India’s vaccination certificates were far more secure, convenient and wieldy than their western counterparts, but they also represented the country’s stunning technological advancement.
In fact, the CoWin platform, India’s indigenously developed vaccine distribution online platform, which also includes vaccine certification, is one of the most sought-after technology across the world. As many as 50 countries, of Central Asia, Latin America and Africa have contacted the Government of India for augmenting their vaccination programmes.
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However, for Ms Singh, it is still a symbolism of “Third Worldism”. She and her family members have always blamed the government and dissed India for their own inadequacies and their own lack of understanding about basic things. Earlier in 2019, her son’s OCI card was revoked because he had concealed that his late father was of Pakistani origin in his PIO (Person of Indian Origin) application. But Ms Singh and Taseer had then brazened out their stand, refusing to acknowledge their mistakes and instead blame the government for being vindictive to cancel Taseer’s OCI status.
While it cannot be said with certainty, but Ms Singh’s persistent fault-finding might be because she is still smarting the indignity of her son’s OCI status being cancelled for lying about his father’s identity in his application.
