PoliticsForeign affairs
Six US Democrats urge Rubio to raise protest crackdown and voter rolls with Jaishankar
The request lands as the Secretary of State begins a six-day India visit, a day after New Delhi called a Congresswoman's remarks on the roll revision 'unwarranted and uninformed'.
Key points
- Six Democratic lawmakers asked Marco Rubio to raise the handling of student protests in India.
- They also want him to take up the revision of voter rolls in his Mumbai talks with S Jaishankar.
- Rubio is in India from 17 to 22 October and meets Jaishankar on 20 October.
Six Democratic members of the US Congress have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise India’s handling of the student-led protests and its revision of voter rolls when he meets External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Mumbai.
Rubio begins a visit to India on Saturday that runs until 22 October. His talks with Jaishankar are set for 20 October in Mumbai, where the two governments will also mark the 250th anniversary of American independence. Energy is at the top of his agenda, and his itinerary includes Jamnagar in Gujarat but not New Delhi.
The lawmakers’ request follows a week of protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and the detention of thousands of protesters in Delhi and other cities, including Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday.
It also comes a day after New Delhi pushed back at one of their colleagues. Representative Pramila Jayapal posted on Wednesday that she was “deeply concerned about the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls”, and said she stood with Indians “engaging in non-violent protests”. On Friday the Ministry of External Affairs called her remarks “unwarranted and uninformed”. India’s ambassador in Washington, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, called them “unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”.
The government had not responded to the lawmakers’ letter by Saturday morning. The Election Commission has said that eligible voters left off the draft rolls can seek inclusion through the claims and objections process or by filing Form 6.