While the US election is entering the final phase of political rhetoric and controversy, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar decided not to get involved.
During an event, he was asked, “What is your general view on the US elections, and how is India prepared for it?”
Jaishankar replied, “You know, we generally don’t comment on other people’s elections, because we also expect others not to comment on our elections.”
Interestingly, ahead of the 2024 general election in India, there was an exchange of quite sharp and nuanced comments between the US State Department and India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Earlier in March this year, when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was being arrested and the Congress was alleging that tax authorities had frozen some of his bank accounts, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had said, “We monitor these actions closely… We encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues.”
The Ministry of External Affairs strongly denied this, saying, “In diplomacy, states are expected to respect the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even greater in the case of fellow democracies. Otherwise it could set an unhealthy precedent.” Jaishankar expressed confidence in working with the next US President, be it Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump or the Democrats’ choice and Vice President Kamala Harris. “We are very confident that we will be able to work with the President of the United States, whoever it is,” he said.
‘We don’t comment on other people’s polls, we hope they don’t comment on ours’: S Jaishankar
While the US election is entering the final phase of political rhetoric and controversy, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar decided not to get involved.
During an event, he was asked, “What is your general view on the US elections, and how is India prepared for it?”
Jaishankar replied, “You know, we generally don’t comment on other people’s elections, because we also expect others not to comment on our elections.”
Interestingly, ahead of the 2024 general election in India, there was an exchange of quite sharp and nuanced comments between the US State Department and India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Earlier in March this year, when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was being arrested and the Congress was alleging that tax authorities had frozen some of his bank accounts, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had said, “We monitor these actions closely… We encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues.”
The Ministry of External Affairs strongly denied this, saying, “In diplomacy, states are expected to respect the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even greater in the case of fellow democracies. Otherwise it could set an unhealthy precedent.” Jaishankar expressed confidence in working with the next US President, be it Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump or the Democrats’ choice and Vice President Kamala Harris. “We are very confident that we will be able to work with the President of the United States, whoever it is,” he said.