Gross interference: Dr Subramanian Swamy reacts to Blinken's discussion on CAA, farm laws

A day after the United States Secretary, Antony Blinken held a roundtable with the members of the civil society, news began to surface that the internal affairs of India like the three contentious laws, CAA Pegasus featured in the discussions. Reacting to the news, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday called it 'gross interference'.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Subramanian Swamy stated, "If US SS (Antony Blinken) had addressed a public meeting and answered questions from the audience, then that would have been acceptable." He described Blinken's move of holding a meet with the 'civil society' members as 'fifth party activity'. 

Before Subramanian Swamy, another MP Rakesh Sinha expressed his strong disapproval of 'Blinken's meddling in Indian affairs'. He, in a conversation with Republic Media Network, underlined that the main objective of the US Secretary's visit to India was to develop a good relationship between the two countries, and underlined that "He is bound by certain limitations". He added, "Crossing the line of limitation is neither desirable nor acceptable".

"What if Indian representatives in the US go to blacks and talks to them about the custodial death, police coercion on ethical grounds an and other undesirable happenings of the country?", he asked, while underlining that India does not do so, and expects the same from the US, and all other countries. 

Antony Blinken meets members of civil society

In a press conference after the meeting, Secretary Antony Blinken underlined that India and the United States shared similar values and aspirations. Having said that, he added, "The people of both the countries believe in human dignity, in equality of opportunity, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion and belief. We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government and be treated with respect no matter who they are. These are fundamental tenets of democracies like ours, and our purpose is to give real meaning to these words and constantly renew our commitment to these ideals.’’ 

He then added that our democracies were a 'work in progress' and are underlined that there are 'challenges' that can be ugly and need to be 'dealt with openly', thereby hinting at the internal issues that he allegedly discussed during the roundtable.