Washington: Reiterating the US’s position regarding its comments about the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the State Department has again stated that they “encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes”.
Mathew Miller, spokesperson for the State Department, at a briefing on Wednesday was asked by this reporter about the US’s reaction as the Indian government had summoned a US diplomat over comments regarding Kejriwal’s arrest.
He was also asked the spokesperson’s view on recent political turmoil in India, including the freezing of the Congress’s bank account.
In response, Miller said the US continues to follow incidents in India closely, including the arrest of Delhi chief minister 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, and we encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues,” said the State Department spokesperson.
He further told the this reporter, “With respect to 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, and we’ll make the same thing clear privately,” Miller added.
India’s foreign ministry summoned Gloria Berbena, the US’s acting deputy chief of mission in New Delhi, to a 40-minute meeting at its office in Delhi to protest Washington’s remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest.
In a brief statement released shortly afterwards, India’s Ministry of External Affairs had warned of “unhealthy precedents” and against “unwarranted aspersions”.
“States are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents,” the MEA had said.
On Tuesday, the US State Department said it is monitoring reports of Kejriwal’s arrest, and called on New Delhi to ensure “a fair and timely legal process” for the jailed AAP leader.
Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey is a fellow of the Journalism Development Network, Inc. (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project). He also serves as the State Department and White House Correspondent for South Asia Perspectives and Just News BD.
