A wave of racist comments targeting Indians has triggered strong condemnation in Singapore, after offensive posts appeared online in connection with recent news involving Nepal and Air India. The comments reportedly used stereotypes referring to “snakes,” “curry,” “prata” and “black magic” while attacking people of Indian origin. Singapore’s Senior Minister and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam described the remarks as “shameful, nasty” and “totally unacceptable.”

Shanmugam said he had asked the police to look into the comments and stressed that people responsible should not be allowed to hide behind online anonymity. Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information is also expected to approach social media platforms over posts that breach their content guidelines. Authorities said allowing such remarks to become normalised could damage social harmony and lower the quality of public discourse. The controversy emerged around two separate developments. One involved the devastating flash floods in Nepal, where nine Singaporeans were reported missing. Some online comments questioned whether the missing people were “really Singaporean” based on their names or appearance. Singapore MPs also criticised such remarks as racist.

A separate wave of comments followed reports that Air India was seeking around $1.5 billion in fresh equity from shareholders, including Singapore Airlines. The discussion reportedly led to further anti-Indian attacks online, including racial comments aimed at Singaporean Indians and senior executives of Indian ethnicity. The response from Singapore's leadership has underlined the country's position that racial and xenophobic hostility cannot be allowed to become part of mainstream public discourse. Authorities are now seeking accountability for those behind the offensive posts while urging social media companies to act against content that violates their rules.