Now, the UN wades into Kejriwal’s arrest, ‘hopes’ ‘political and civil rights’ are protected

After the United States of America and Germany, the United Nations on Friday commented on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, saying that it “hopes” people’s “political and civil rights” are “protected” and everyone votes in a “free and fair” atmosphere in poll-bound India and other countries.

UN Secretary-General Stephane’s spokesperson Dujarric made these remarks on Thursday in the daily press briefing over a question on the “political unrest” ahead of Lok Sabha elections in India following the arrest of Kejriwal in the Delhi excise case. “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 told journalists at Geneva.

• Read: ED gets 4 more days of Kejriwal’s custody in Delhi excise case

This is the second comment of the UN in a month on the election-related issues in India. Early this month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk raised “concern” over the electoral process in India, especially “increasing restrictions on the civic space – with human rights defenders, journalists and perceived critics targeted – as well as by hate speech and discrimination against minorities, especially Muslims.”

India’s reaction

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Arindam Bagchi, had described the statement as “unwarranted” and “do not reflect the reality of the largest democracy in the world.”

• Read: BJP mocks Rahul Gandhi over tax knowledge, denies involvement in Congress’ account freeze

A day before the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson observation on Thursday, the US not only criticised Kejriwal’s arrest but later also spoke on the freezing of the Congress party’s bank accounts. The US State Department said it was “closely watching” events and called on the Indian government to ensure a “fair, transparent and timely legal process” before the polls. The comment was on the Delhi CM’s arrest.

The same day, India’s MEA swiftly summoned Acting Deputy Chief of US Mission Gloria Berbena to protest on the unacceptable intervention by Washington. Later, a MEA spokesperson stated, “any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable.”

On India summoning the US diplomat in Delhi, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “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, and we’ll make the same thing clear privately.”

On Thursday, India again rebutted the US State Department’s latest observation about Kejriwal’s arrest. The country said it is “proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions” and committed to protecting them from any form of undue external influences.

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