New Delhi:In a strongly worded statement, India on Thursday hit back at the United States for again commenting on the arrest of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying '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'.
This comes after Washington emphasized its stance on advocating for fair and transparent legal processes. “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress party's allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. We encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues. Concerning your first question, I'm not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said from here, that we encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don't think anyone should object to that”, said US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller.
Addressing the weekly media briefing here in New Delhi on Thursday, External Affairs Ministry's official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said, “As you are aware, yesterday, India lodged its strong objection and protest with the senior official from the US Embassy about the comments made by the US State Department. The recent remarks by the State Department are unwarranted. Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable. In India, legal processes are driven only by the Rule of Law”.
"Anyone who has a similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact. India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protecting them from any form of undue external influences. 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", added Jaiswal.
Washington's remarks came after India on Wednesday, 27 March, summoned the US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena, and handed over a strongly worded démarche. The meeting lasted for approximately 40 minutes.