Scottish Indians hit out at Nicola Sturgeon yesterday after she renamed a strain of Covid-19 over fears it would lead to prejudice.
They said the First Minister’s decision to start referring to the Indian variant of the killer bug as “April-02” was “silly”.
The Indian Council of Scotland accused Sturgeon of “playing to the galleries”.
Neil Lal, president of the group which represents Scotland’s 33,000 Indians, said: “I’ve not heard from one Indian who has voiced any concern over a Covid strain being called the Indian variant. Not one.
“We’ve certainly not been asked our views on it. We’ve had the Brazilian, South African, Kent and other variants. There’s been no indication any people from these areas have suffered after a strain was named after the region they were from.
“It just looks like gesture politics and empty ones at that.India has bigger problems on its plate than a variant name.
“When I heard about it, I just thought it was very silly.
“No one is taking offence to it. It’s an overused term but it’s political correctness gone mad.
“This is just playing to the galleries. The facts speak for themselves. People don’t feel stigmatised because a variant developed in India.”
The Indian variant is believed to be driving the outbreak in Sturgeon’s constituency in Glasgow’s southside.
A surge in positive tests has caused the city to be the only part of the country to remain in Level 3 lockdown restrictions.
New Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said he had also decided to stop refering to the strain as the Indian variant as he did not want the virus “to divide us”.
Sturgeon said at Friday’s Covid briefing: “It is still important to be cautious, particularly in light of the so-called Indian variant which from now I’m going to refer to as the April-02 variant.”
She went on to refer to another strain of the bug found in the UK as the “Kent variant” seconds later. Geographic names have been used for mutations of the bug since the pandemic began.
Italians dubbed a virulent strain blamed for an outbreak earlier this year in the north of the country “Variante Scozzese” – the Scottish variant.
Scientists have also found South African and Brazilian variants of the virus.
But the World Health Organisation has vowed to bring in a naming system that would avoid “stigmatisation and is geographically and politically neutral”.
Lal’s criticism came as the UK Government helped Holyrood send life-saving support to India.
Flights carrying medical equipment from Scotland and Wales yesterday arrived to help it deal with its Covid crisis.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “The UK, Scottish and Welsh governments are working together to support India in its struggle against Covid.”
On Friday night 100 oxygen concentrators and 40 ventilators were transported to India.
Over 280,000 Indians have died from Covid but the virus spread now looks to be slowing.
The Scottish Government declined to respond to Lal’s comments.
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