In the wake of India’s summoning of a senior US diplomat, the United States has once again emphasized its commitment to due process in the cases involving Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress party.
The Indian government summoned a high-ranking US diplomat on Wednesday, expressing its disapproval of the US State Department’s comments on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In response, the US reiterated its close monitoring of these events and its advocacy for “fair, transparent, timely legal processes.”
Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department, stated, “We continue to closely follow these actions, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also cognizant of the allegations made by the Congress party that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a way that will hinder their ability to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. We encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues.”
Miller’s comments were in response to a question about India summoning the US diplomat over remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest, the recent political upheaval, including the freezing of Congress’s bank account, and Amnesty International’s assertion that the crackdown on the Opposition had reached a crisis point ahead of the elections.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Gloria Berbena, a senior US diplomat who heads the public affairs section at the US Embassy. This followed the summoning of the German deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler, to lodge a strong protest against the German Foreign Ministry’s comments on Kejriwal’s arrest.
When asked in Berlin about the summoning of the diplomats, the German Foreign Ministry spokesperson sought to deescalate the situation. “It is indeed the case that my colleague took this up here last week. In this respect, I don’t have any updates. But let me say that as you mentioned, the topic was discussed with the Indian side on Saturday and let me also emphasise once again that we – India and Germany – have a great interest in closer cooperation and work together in an atmosphere of trust. As such, I would be reluctant to talk about confidential internal discussions here.”
The US statement was a reiteration of the State Department’s earlier comments. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the US State Department spokesperson, responding to an emailed query, said: “We encourage a fair, transparent and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal.”
On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, “strongly” objected to the US State Department spokesperson’s remarks “about certain legal proceedings in India”. He said, “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.”
This is the second time in the last two weeks that India hit back at the US. Responding to criticism from Washington on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Delhi had said on March 15 that it was an “internal matter”. Saying that the CAA “supports human rights”, the MEA spokesperson had said: “As regards the US State Department’s statement on the implementation of CAA, we are of the view that it is misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted.”
On Kejriwal’s arrest, India had immediately summoned the German deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler, on Saturday, after the German Foreign Ministry said it had “taken note” of the development and hoped that the standard
