Dubai ruler talking about Kerala floods? 'Cryptic' tweets go viral

Even as the controversy over the Narendra Modi government not allowing foreign assistance for relief and reconstruction work after the Kerala floods refuses to die down, two tweets in Arabic by the ruler of Dubai on Sunday night have evoked considerable curiosity. Several Facebook users claim the tweets are a veiled criticism of the Modi government's handling of the Kerala aid row.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, posted two tweets on Sunday night about the duties of good officials. In the first tweet, Sheikh Mohammed said, “There are two types of officials; the first type likes to serve people and their happiness is in facilitating human life, and changing life for the better is their real achievement. These officials open doors, offer solutions and always seek the people's benefit.”

In the second tweet, Sheikh Mohammed describes the second type of officials, whom he claims “underestimate a lot. They make human life more difficult and their happiness is when people need them and stand by their doors and desks.”

Sheikh Mohammed's second tweet concludes by saying states and governments “succeed only” if the first type of officials outnumber the second type.

While local sources described the tweets of Sheikh Mohammed as phrases of wisdom to encourage people and have no direct references to Kerala, social media has already started to draw connections.

Beef Janata Party, a popular Facebook page that is highly critical of the BJP and has nearly 270,000 followers, posted screenshots of the two tweets of Sheikh Mohammed, along with their translation. Several Facebook users also put up posts claiming Sheikh Mohammed's comments were a jab at the Modi government over the Kerala aid row.

Others took to posting on the Twitter timeline of Sheikh Mohammed to draw links to the situation in Kerala.

The interest in the tweets of Sheikh Mohammed can be traced to the fact that he had taken a proactive approach to push for assistance to Kerala, tweeting multiple times in Malayalam and English on the need to stand by the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted his gratitude to Sheikh Mohammed for his “gracious offer to support people of Kerala during this difficult time”.