'Unwarranted': India lodges Stern Objection to US Remarks on Arvind Kejriwal's Arrest

New Delhi: Lodging protest to the remark made by the United States over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and account freezing of the Congress, India in its stern response on Thursday called the interference as completely unacceptable. The Ministry of External Affairs, while talking to media personnel on Thursday called the US remarks as unwarranted and said that in India legal processes are driven only by the rule of law.

Earlier, after India summoned a senior US diplomat Gloria Berbena over the comments made by the US on the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Washington on Wednesday again stressed that it encourages fair, transparent and timely legal process and asserted that no should have objections to it.

India is committed to protect its robust democratic institutions from any form of undue external influences: Randhir Jaiswal

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, while responding to the US diplomat being summoned by India after the United States comments on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's arrest and freezing of Congress bank accounts, had said, "We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind 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. 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," Miller further added.

Following the second statement by the US regarding the issue, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, while lodging strong protest to the US on India’s internal affairs, stated, "Yesterday India lodged its strong objection and protest with the senior official from the US embassy with regard to the comments made by the US State Department. The recent remarks by the State Department are unwarranted. Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable.”

“In India, legal processes are driven only by the rule of law. Anyone who has a similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact. India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect them from any form of undue external influences,” Jaiswal emphasized.

“Mutual respect and understanding form the foundation of international relations, and states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others," the MEA spokesperson added.