New Delhi/New York/Washington: India’s Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar today said that India does not need lessons from any country on the rule of law.
He said India’s rise was “not digestible in some quarters”, and “the United Nations cannot be as protective and effective unless it has the representation of a country like India that has the unique position of being the only country in the world to have constitutionally structured democracy at all levels”.
The Vice President’s comments came hours after the issue was raised by a Bangladeshi journalist during a routine media briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, at the United Nations headquarters in New York on March 28, 2024 (local time).
“How do you perceive the political unrest in India just before the national election, with the arrest of Delhi’s chief minister and the freezing of the opposition Congress Party’s bank accounts? The right groups describe the situation as a crackdown on the opposition, reaching a crisis point ahead of the national election,” he asked Dujarric, who replied: “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.”
Earlier, Germany and the United States had also raised the issue of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and the freezing of the bank account of another opposition party, the Indian National Congress. This led to India summoning the diplomats of these two countries to register its protest over such remarks. On March 23, 2024, the German Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi was summoned and conveyed India’s strong protest on their Foreign Office Spokesperson’s comments on India’s internal affairs.
The US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said “…we continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress Party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections, and we encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues”.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, “We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary”. It took strong objection to the remarks of the Spokesperson of the US State Department and reminded Washington that in diplomacy, “states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in the case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents”.
India, the MEA stated, is a vibrant and robust democracy with the rule of law. “As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter. India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted. Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted,” the MEA stated.
Addressing the 70th Founders’ Day celebrations of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi today, Dhankhar said that “equality before law is a new norm” in India today and the law is holding those accountable who thought themselves as beyond law. “But what do we see? The moment law takes its course, they take to streets, high decibel debates, camouflaging culpability of the worst nature by human rights. This is happening under our nose,” he added.
“What is justification for a person or an institution or an organisation to take to streets when the law is set in motion?” Dhankhar asked. Calling for deeper deliberations on this issue, he asked, “Can people orchestrate in complaining mode, a pernicious tendency to get away from the rule of law? How can one engaging in transgression of law play the victim card?”Suggesting that corruption is no longer rewarding, he said, “Corruption is not a passage to opportunity, employment or a contract anymore. It is a passage to jail. The system is securing it.” He also questioned the reasoning that the corrupt must not be dealt with because it’s a festive season or it’s a farming season and asked “How can there be any season to save those who are culpable? Take the route to the rule of law, that is the only way!”
Praising the pro-people stand of the Indian judiciary, Dhankhar said “It is that institution of the judiciary that has met at midnight, met on a holiday, imparted relief.” Questioning the tendency of targeting our institutions, the Vice President asked “If a group of people without being registered or recognised party act as a political party, what do we do? They are not accountable, they get traction. We must rise above it.”
– global bihari bureau