US Reacts After India Summons Diplomat Over Remarks On Arvind Kejriwal’s Arrest

Hours after India summoned a senior US diplomat to lodge a protest over comments on the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday reiterated that Washington encourages fair, transparent, timely legal processes and “we don’t think anyone should object to that”.

“We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal,” Matthew Miller said while responding to a question during the state department briefing over India summoning acting deputy chief of mission Gloria Berbena in New Delhi earlier in the day. Miller also responded to a question on the freezing of the Congress party’s bank accounts.

“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,” he said.

However, Miller also denied talking about any private diplomatic conversations, and said, “With respect to your first question, I am 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. We’ll make the same thing clear privately.”

The ministry of external affairs summoned Gloria Berbena at its office in South Block in Delhi and lodged a strong protest against a US state department official’s remarks on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case linked to now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.

The meeting reportedly lasted for more than 30 minutes.

Reports suggested that a state department official had said that the US “encouraged a fair, transparent and timely legal process for chief minister Kejriwal”.

Earlier, the MEA said Delhi took strong objection to the remarks of the spokesperson of the US state department about certain legal proceedings in India.

“In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in the case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents,” the MEA said in a statement.

“India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted,” the MEA added.