New Delhi: In a major development, India on Wednesday summoned a senior US diplomat over recent US State Department remarks on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to reports, the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi summoned the US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena. The meeting lasted for approximately 40 minutes.
"We take strong objection to the remarks of the Spokesperson of the US State Department about certain legal proceedings in India," the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement released after the summon. Further, the ministry asserted India is a democratic country and expressed hope that other "fellow democracies" should respect its sovereignty and internal matters.
Set unhealthy precedents for others: India to the US
The MEA, in its statement, underscored that if countries like the United States does not respect other's internal matters, it would set "unhealthy precedents". "In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in the case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," said MEA.
"India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted," it added.
VIDEO: US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena coming out of MEA
The summon came two days after a State Department spokesperson said that the US is closely following reports of the arrest of Indian opposition figure Arvind Kejriwal and encourages a fair legal process. "We encourage a fair, transparent, and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal," the US official had said in a response to a query by news agency Reuters. Notably, Kejriwal was arrested by a financial crime-fighting agency on Thursday on corruption charges.
India had also summoned a German diplomat last week
Earlier last week, New Delhi summoned a German envoy as a mark of protest against his government's remarks about the arrest of the Delhi CM. "We assume and expect that the standards relating to the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case," Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany's foreign office had said in a press conference.
Later, New Delhi summoned the German embassy's deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler, "and conveyed India’s strong protest," at the remarks.
It is worth mentioning India underscores the arrest of the Delhi Chief Minister is solely an "internal matter" of India and therefore, "no foreign country should lecture New Delhi over what to do and what not to".
