Six US lawmakers urge Rubio to press India over protest crackdown ahead of Mumbai talks
Six US Democratic lawmakers have written to Marco Rubio urging him to raise alleged excessive force against student protesters in Delhi with Indian officials during his India visit next week.
WASHINGTON — Six US Democratic lawmakers have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to press India over its handling of student protests, days before Rubio’s visit to India, the Deccan Herald reported on Saturday.
The letter, signed on Friday by Pramila Jayapal, Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern, Rashida Tlaib, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jesus Garcia, voices concern over “a pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India”.
It cites Cockroach Janata Party protests against then-education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and ongoing demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The lawmakers also accused the Indian embassy and consulates of deploying photographers to monitor protesters at CJP-supporting demonstrations in Washington, Chicago and San Francisco.
Rubio is due to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai on 20 October.
India has rejected the criticism. Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra called Jayapal’s remarks “unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”, while foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday they were “unwarranted and uninformed” and “tantamount to interfering in the electoral practices of a fellow democracy”. Democratic leader and former White House adviser Ajay Jain Bhutoria also criticised the letter, saying Congress had “no business lecturing New Delhi on its internal affairs”.
More on this topic: all World stories
