NEW DELHI: Foreign minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday advised 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.
During the interaction, Jaishankar also slammed China’s action of issuing a list of new names for places in Arunachal Pradesh and called it ‘senseless’. He also added that the northeastern state is and will always be a part of India.
“I want to be very clear that Arunachal Pradesh was, Arunachal Pradesh is, Arunachal Pradesh will always be India. I hope I am saying it so clearly that not only in the country but beyond the country also people get that message very very clearly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar also came down heavily on Congress leader P Chidambram over the Katchatheevu island row. the EAM said that the fishermen of Tamil Nadu should know who put them in this situation.
In his tweets on X earlier, Chidambaram said any “untruthful and belligerent” statement about the island will bring the Sri Lankan government and 35 lakh Tamils into confrontation. Jaishankar did a “somersault” on the issue, and once a liberal foreign service officer, he became a mouthpiece of the RSS-BJP, the former Union minister said.
Jaishankar said he did not mind people disputing his statements that then prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi gave no importance to the island and the legal opinion regarding negotiating fishing rights with Sri Lanka was disregarded.
“But these are public documents. By saying that today Jaishankar is in BJP or not — Jaishankar is in BJP and is proud to be in BJP — does not change anything. Facts are facts, truth is truth. Fishermen of Tamil Nadu should know who has put them in that situation,” he said.
The issue is not what was the (then) government’s position… the issue is the public should know that the DMK was complicit in it,” he added.
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.
During the interaction, Jaishankar also slammed China’s action of issuing a list of new names for places in Arunachal Pradesh and called it ‘senseless’. He also added that the northeastern state is and will always be a part of India.
“I want to be very clear that Arunachal Pradesh was, Arunachal Pradesh is, Arunachal Pradesh will always be India. I hope I am saying it so clearly that not only in the country but beyond the country also people get that message very very clearly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar also came down heavily on Congress leader P Chidambram over the Katchatheevu island row. the EAM said that the fishermen of Tamil Nadu should know who put them in this situation.
In his tweets on X earlier, Chidambaram said any “untruthful and belligerent” statement about the island will bring the Sri Lankan government and 35 lakh Tamils into confrontation. Jaishankar did a “somersault” on the issue, and once a liberal foreign service officer, he became a mouthpiece of the RSS-BJP, the former Union minister said.
Jaishankar said he did not mind people disputing his statements that then prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi gave no importance to the island and the legal opinion regarding negotiating fishing rights with Sri Lanka was disregarded.
“But these are public documents. By saying that today Jaishankar is in BJP or not — Jaishankar is in BJP and is proud to be in BJP — does not change anything. Facts are facts, truth is truth. Fishermen of Tamil Nadu should know who has put them in that situation,” he said.
The issue is not what was the (then) government’s position… the issue is the public should know that the DMK was complicit in it,” he added.
