Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
The United Nations, responding to a question on the political unrest in India amid the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and freezing of all Congress bank accounts, said that the world body hoped for the protection of people’s political rights during elections in India and other nations.
“We very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that’s everyone’s rights are protected including political and civil rights and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a press meet.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the Delhi Liquor Case days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He is currently in the custody of the central probe agency. Meanwhile, the Congress alleged that the Income Tax Department has sealed their bank accounts leaving them with no money to fight the parliamentary elections.
The remarks by the United Nations follow similar statements by the United States of America and Germany over the arrest of Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal. A spokesperson from the United States Department stated that they are closely monitoring the arrest of Kejriwal and are encouraging a fair, transparent and timely legal process.”
Registering India’s protest over the statement, New Delhi summoned a senior US Diplomat. Hours after this on March 27, 2024, the US reiterated the same stand calling for transparent and timely legal processes. “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 and timely legal processes.
We don’t think anyone should object to that and we will make the same thing clear privately, the US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said. A German foreign affairs spokesperson, in a statement also said that the standards related to the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic principles would be applied in the case of Arvind Kejriwal.
The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson subsequently summoned a senior diplomat of the German Embassy to lodge its protest over the country’s comments calling it blatant interference of internal affairs. The case against Arvind Kejriwal pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi governments excise policy for 2021-2022 which was later scrapped.
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