NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that he does not need the United Nations to tell that the elections in the country should be "free & fair".
Jaishankar, in town to support BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Lok Sabha campaign, dismissed the
UN official
's remark on
elections in India
, stating it came in response to a "loaded question" during a UN press briefing last week.
"I don't need the United Nations to tell me our elections should be free & fair. I have the people of India. The
people of India
will ensure that elections are free & fair. So, don't worry about it," the minister told reporters during an interaction here.
Last week, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric was asked about the "political unrest" in India ahead of the upcoming national elections in the wake of the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of the opposition Congress Party's bank accounts.
"What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone's rights are protected, including
political and civil rights
, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair," Dujarric had said.
Earlier, Jaishankar also asked other countries to refrain from making political statements on India's internal affairs or else will get a 'very strong reply' from India.
Responding to a question about the recent comments of US and German envoys on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest the Enforcement Directorate, the foreign minister said that India had made it very clear that it objected to such statements.
"Somebody asked a person from the UN (about Kejriwal's arrest), and he gave some reply. But in other cases, I would say very frankly these are old habits, these are bad habits," Jaishankar said.
"There is a certain 'maryada' (restraint) among countries. We are sovereign countries, we should not be interfering in each other's internal affairs, we should not be passing comments about each other's politics," he added.
The foreign minister further said that certain etiquettes, conventions and practices which must be followed in international relations and if any country comments in India's politics, they will get a very strong reply from the government.
"We sincerely urge all the countries in the world that by all means you have your views about the world, but no country has the right to comment on another country's politics especially in situations like this," Jaishankar said.
English (US) ·