Bula Devi reports from New Delhi
New Delhi March 29:- India on Thursday termed the United States’s interference in its internal affairs as “unwarranted”, “unacceptable” following the State Department’s latest call for “fair, transparent and timely legal processes” in the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and freezing of Congress party funds.
This is the second time in this week that the US attempted to overstep in India’s domestic issues despite the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday summoned a senior official from the US Embassy and lodged a strong objection to the US State Department’s comments.
“The recent remarks by the State Department are unwarranted. Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in the weekly briefing of the ministry.
The spokesperson said that countries should be respectful to the sovereignty of others. “Mutual respect and understanding form the foundation of international relations and states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others,” emphasised Jaiswal.
Legal processes in India are driven only by the Rule of Law and anyone who has similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact, MEA countered to the State Department’s uncalled for comments on India’s internal issues.
“India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect from any form of undue external influences,” emphasised MEA.
When US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked on the issue of India summoning the senior US diplomat over the US position on the arrest of Kejriwal as well as the freezing of the Congress party’s bank accounts, Matthew Miller said that Washington was aware of the developments.
He said, “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. We encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal last week for his alleged role in Delhi’s controversial excise policy for 2021-22 that was later scrapped. His party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has rejected the corruption charges. Congress leaders have also protested against tax authorities attaching five bank accounts of the party.
It is not just America which has reacted to the actions taken against Kejriwal and the Congress, Germany has also commented on it. In both cases, India lodged protests. Besides the senior diplomat of the US Embassy who was summoned by the MEA, the German deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler, was also summoned on Saturday and a protest was lodged on the German foreign ministry taking position on Kejriwal’s arrest since it amounted to Germany interfering in India’s judicial process.
