In a press conference, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal, described as unjustified the recent comments of the US State Department related to the elections of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Arvind Kejriwal, and other Indian internal matters.

Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable, he emphasized.

Jaiswal pointed out that in India, legal processes are governed solely by the rule of law.

The diplomat pointed out that anyone who has a similar ethic, especially other democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating that fact.

Jaiswal said it was a matter of pride for his country to have what he described as independent and strong democratic institutions.

We are committed to protecting them from any form of undue external influence, he reaffirmed.

Finally, the Foreign Ministry spokesman assured that mutual respect and understanding is the basis of international relations and states are expected to respect the sovereignty and internal affairs of other nations, he coined.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning statements by U.S. State Department spokesman Mathew Miller on alleged concerns of Washington related to the judicial process against Kejriwal, which New Delhi labeled an unwarranted slander.

Without going into details, the Foreign Ministry warned that failure to follow the rules of diplomacy of respect for sovereignty and internal affairs of states, a major responsibility in friendly democracies, set unhealthy precedents between nations.

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