Undeterred by India’s objections, the US has reiterated its call for a “fair, transparent and timely” legal process for jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and also wished the same for the Congress Party, that has alleged that some of its accounts have been frozen by tax authorities.
Criticising the US’ latest comments, the Ministry of External Affairs, on Thursday, said that any such external imputation on the country’s electoral and legal processes was completely unacceptable.
The US continues to follow actions in India closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday after an American diplomat in New Delhi was summoned by the MEA to express its objections over the US’ earlier comments on the AAP leader’s arrest .
“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. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues,” Miller said.
When asked about the MEA’s summons to the American diplomat on Wednesday to object to US comments on Kejriwal, Miller said he could not talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but maintained that the US had not said anything that could be objected to. “....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,” he said.
India, in its response on Thursday, said the US remarks were unwarranted. “Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal added that in India, legal processes are driven only by the Rule of Law. “India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect them from any form of undue external influences.,” he said.
Last Friday, Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer, too, had commented on Kejriwal’s arrest. “We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case,” he said.
The MEA then summoned German Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Georg Enzweiler, to convey India’s strong protest.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 22 on charges of money laundering and corruption but his Aam Aadmi Party denied the allegations and called it a fabricated case. The arrest has attracted international attention as it has taken place just a month before the country’s general elections.