India claps back at US diplomat for offering America’s help with violence-hit state

‘You don’t have to be Indian to care when you see children and individuals die in the sort of violence,’ says Eric Garcetti

India’s foreign ministry criticised US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti for speaking about the ethnic violence in Manipur, maintaining that it was India’s “internal” matter.

Mr Garcetti commented on the tense situation in the northeastern state on Thursday and said that it was a matter of “human concern”.

During a press event in Kolkatta, Mr Garcetti was asked about the volatile situation in Manipur. “Let me speak about Manipur first. We pray for peace there. When you ask us about the concern of the United States, I don’t think it’s a strategic concern. I think it’s about human concern,” he said.

He continued: “You don’t have to be Indian to care when you see children and individuals die in the sort of violence that we see [in Manipur] and we know that peace is the precedent for so many other good things. There have been so many good things in the northeast and the east here and those can’t continue without peace.”

He added that the US was “ready to assist in any way if asked”.

“We know it’s an Indian matter and we pray for peace and that it may come quickly. Because we can bring more collaboration, more projects, more investment if that peace is in place. One very clear message I want to send – the east of India and the northeast of India matters to the United States. Its people, its places, its potential and its future matter to us.”

Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, responded to the comments made by Mr Garcetti. “I haven’t seen those comments by the US ambassador. If he has made them, we will see… I think we would also seek peace there and I think our agencies and our security forces are working, our local government is working on it.

“I am not sure foreign diplomats would usually comment on internal developments in India but I wouldn’t like to make a comment without seeing exactly what has been said,” Telegraph India quoted him as saying.

Two communities, Meitei and Kukis in Manipur have been embroiled in a deadly conflict since May. The two communities have reportedly armed themselves and launched brutal attacks against one another. Thousands of people have been left homeless and more than 100 have died.

A member of parliament from the opposition Congress, Manish Tewari, tweeted that it was rare for a US envoy to comment on India’s internal affairs.

“To the best of my recollection going back at least four decades in public life, I have never heard a US ambassador making a statement of this nature about the internal affairs of India.”

He continued: “We faced challenges in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, North East over the decades and surmounted those with sagacity and wisdom. Even when Robin Raphel would be loquacious on J&K in the 1990s, the US ambassadors in India were circumspect. I doubt if the New @USAmbIndia @ericgarcetti is cognisant of the convoluted and torturous history of US-India relations and our sensitivity about interference perceived or real, well-intentioned or mal intentioned into our internal affairs.”

He later was quoted as saying by ANI that “as far as the US ambassador is concerned, the country faces several challenges but India has never appreciated any statement for its internal matters. There is gun violence in the US and several people are killed. We never told the US to learn from us as to how to rein that in”.

Mr Tewari added: “The US faces riots over racism. We never told them that we will lecture them… Perhaps it is important for the new ambassador to take cognisance of the history of India-US relations.”

Telegraph India quoted a strategic affairs expert Sourabh Sen as saying that “stability in this region [India’s east and northeast], be it in Manipur or neighbouring Mizoram or even Bangladesh, for that matter, is very important for the US to counter the Chinese initiatives in the region”.

Mr Garcetti later said: “India is for Indians to determine its pathway.... We are here as friends. We are here to have conversations that are important. We are here to engage on the promotion of everyone’s rights.”