India on Thursday said the US State Department’s recent remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is “unwarranted” and asserted the country is “proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions” and committed to protect them from any form of undue external influences.
Ministry of External Affairs(MEA)spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in response to a query during his weekly press briefing on New Delhi’s stand on the remarks made by Washington on the arrest.
“Yesterday India lodged its strong objection and protest with the senior official from the US embassy with regard to the comments made by the US State Department,” he said.
The recent remarks by the State Department are “unwarranted,” the MEA Spokesperson said. Any such external imputation on “our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable,” he said.
“India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect them from any forms of undue external influences,” he added.
Taking strong objection to certain remarks by a US official regarding the issue of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, India on Wednesday here summoned a senior US diplomat and lodged a strong protest against Washington’s remarks. On March 23, German diplomat was summoned by New Delhi for certain remarks German foreign ministry on the same issue.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials on Wednesday summoned the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena of US at its office in South Block here. The meeting lasted for more than 30 minutes.
Reports had said a US state department official had said Washington “encouraged a fair, transparent and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal”.
The MEA later in a statement said, “We take strong objection to the remarks of the Spokesperson of the US State Department about certain legal proceedings in India”.
“In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents,” the statement said.
India’s legal processes are based on “an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes,” the MEA said in the statement while underlining that “casting aspersions on that is unwarranted”.
The development comes days after India on March 23 had summoned the German deputy chief of mission here and lodged a strong protest against that country’s foreign ministry’s remarks on the arrest of the Delhi chief minister. A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson had “taken note” of Kejriwal’s arrest.
“We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary,” the MEA had said.
