A few hours after India’s criticism of the US for interfering with the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of India’s capital, Delhi, the US State Department announced that it was monitoring both the AAP leader’s detention and the national opposition party’s, the Indian National Congress (INC), claims that their bank accounts had been frozen in anticipation of the next general elections.
The US State Department also stated that the nation anticipated fair and transparent legal procedures in both cases.
At a press conference on Wednesday, its spokesperson, Mathew Miller, stated: “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.” “We encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues,” he added.
The statement came a day after India called a top US diplomat to New Delhi and sent a forceful statement criticizing the State Department’s previous statements regarding Kejriwal’s apprehension in a money-laundering case.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued an unnecessary warning against “casting aspersions” on India’s legal procedures. It stated, “India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes.”
In a similar move, the German embassy’s top ambassador was called by the MEA after the Berlin-based foreign ministry of that nation announced that Kejriwal’s detention had been noted.
