New Zealand MP slams Ardern's ban on travellers from India; questions US, UK entries

Several community leaders have questioned the decision of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government to temporarily halt the travel from India saying that they fear the move could promote racism and stigma. New Zealand Member of Parliament Golriz Ghahraman, a member of the Green Party took to social media and said why borders are still open for nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom considering the COVID-19 situation in those countries. Ghahraman posed the question to Ardern saying that it is essential for ethnic South Asian communities to know that “race isn’t a factor” in the Kiwi nation’s COVID-19 risk management. 

As per the Guardian report, Sunil Kaushal, president of the Waitakere Indian Association also questioned why the New Zealand government applied the rule to India and not nations such as United States, Brazil, France and the UK who when compared novel coronavirus cases per-capita are way ahead than India. He also cornered the government to give a clear answer to the ruling.

“The question of ‘Why India?’ must be asked, and a clear answer should be given,” said Sunil Kaushal. “We don’t feel like a part of the ‘team of 5 million’ when Indians are singled out like this”

Ardern on April 8 announced that the nation would temporarily suspend entry for all travellers from India including its own citizens for two weeks from April 11 after India appeared to be gripped in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic with cases suddenly soaring. On The same day, the government had announced that another border worker had reportedly contracted the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes COVID-19. However, reportedly, there is still no indication of the case of linked from India.

23 new COVID-19 among border workers

Reportedly, New Zealand has recorded at least 23 new positive COVID-19 cases at border facilities as of April 8 including 17 from India. Ardern on April 9 said that over 60 passengers arriving in New Zealand from India had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in just the last two weeks. She said, “If that number of people from any country were coming in with Covid that would give us cause to pause and look at mitigation to reduce that risk, so this is not country-specific, this is about the cases we are seeing currently from that region.”

“It’s quite shocking, to be honest,” said reportedly Mandeep Bela, of the Indian Workers Association. “Since Covid started, we were told that New Zealand cannot shut its borders to its citizens, regardless of where they are, how many cases there are – they cannot stop them coming back to the country.” According to him,  the restriction implies that New Zealand citizens in India had been “left stateless”.

Image credits: AP/Golriz Ghahraman/Facebook/Unsplash