Countries shouldn’t interfere in each other’s affairs: Jaishankar on reactions to Kejriwal arrest

Without naming anyone, Jaishankar told mediapersons, “In the case of the UN, somebody asked and they gave a reply. But in other cases, I must say these are old habits, these are bad habits. There is a certain maryada in sovereign countries… we should not be interfering in each other’s internal affairs, we should not be passing comments about each others’ politics…”
“We have told the diplomats of those countries clearly that we take very strong objection to it and we think it is not a good practice and we would sincerely urge all countries that by all means, you can have your views, but no country has the right to comment on another country’s politics, especially in situations like these… there are certain etiquettes, there are certain conventions, certain practices to be followed in international relations,” he added.

Asked by The Indian Express whether the government has been holding backchannel talks following the recent incident of rioting and assault on foreign students at Gujarat University over Muslim students offering namaz, Jaishankar said: “A very unfortunate event happened and I must say the police authorities also moved very quickly on this matter. My sense is immediate action was taken.”

“I take it as something which was exceptional, which was regrettable but I think most foreign students in India have a good experience. Treat this as something that was regrettable but is not a representative action.”

With BJP leaders targeting past Congress governments under Nehru and Indira Gandhi over the ceding of the island of Katchatheevu in Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka, The Indian Express asked Jaishankar why the BJP is selectively blaming the Congress for ceding control of Katchatheevu when as part of the deal, it had gained control of the Wadge Bank near Kanyakumari.

“The reason why Katchatheevu has come up is because it has been asked about in the Parliament in the last five years, it has come up in the consultative committee of the MEA and it has come up in public space… So, we felt, considering that the situation of fishermen is a concern, it is right for the fishermen themselves and the people of Tamil Nadu that they know the truth and the whole truth…,” Jaishankar said.

He added, “The whole truth was that Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhiji had very little concern, one described it as a very small island, one described it as a small rock. Secondly, when the discussion was going on in the 1950s and 1960s, legal opinion was given that ‘at least negotiate and obtain fishing rights’ but fishing rights were not obtained and those fishing rights were ceded in an agreement in 1976.”

“Thirdly, this party in Tamil Nadu, DMK, which has raised the fisherman issue, was actually complicit in this matter… One month before the agreement, then foreign secretary had discussed it with then CM of Tamil Nadu, who had said, ‘I am okay with this agreement but in public I don’t want to support this’… These are the facts that the people of Tamil Nadu and India need to know. So, whether this was part of an agreement, which had other issues or not, is immaterial.”

He further blamed the Nehru-Gandhi family for the current skirmishes between India and China, adding that these are the result of past decisions.

Recounting that in the 1950s, Sardar Patel had cautioned about China and Nehru had dismissed the same, Jaishankar said, “Today, we are talking India first, there was a time when the PM used to talk about China first… Suppose instead of Nehru, we had listened to Sardar on China, if he had listened to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee than Nehru on Kashmir, if we listened to Ambedkar on US than Nehru… it is important for people to go back and think about it.”

“We must not repeat the mistakes or cover up the truth… Today, when we talk about our boundaries, our boundaries are still our boundaries. It is a problem because of our past. A lot of our issues today is because of our past… It is important to be clear headed,” he said at an event organised by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) in Ahmedabad.

Addressing a question on the diplomatic row between Canada and India around the Khalistan issue, Jaishankar said, “Unfortunately in Canadian politics, space has been given to Khakistanis, who have taken positions… Suppose our role was reversed, would you accept your diplomats being threatened?… We are getting rid of vote bank politics in India but it is very strong elsewhere. So, what we are seeing (in Canada) is vote bank politics. We have to counter it, which is what we are doing and we can hope good sense will prevail.”

In his address at the GCCI event that focused on the role of foreign policy in commerce and business, Jaishankar said that it comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Giving an example of a challenge, Jaishankar spoke about the Russia-Ukraine war.

“…Had we not taken oil from Russia… the cost of petrol here would have gone up… We had to take a stance, a public stance that too, that our decision is in the interest of consumers of India, in national interest because per capita income here is less than 3000 USD while those who were preaching to us (seeking sanctions against Russia) were countries with per capita income of USD 40,000-60,000,” he added.