A day after India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hit out at the UN for questioning the authenticity of elections in the South Asian country, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh joined him in slamming the world body, underlining that it had no locus standi in the matter.
"Who is United Nations to talk about free and fair elections in India? Did India not have free and fair elections before this? Weren’t the 2019 elections free and fair? And what about 2014? In fact, I say even before 2014 India had free and fair elections. Where did this issue come from?" Rajnath Singh said during a media interaction in New Delhi on Friday.
The UN has been severely criticized, especially by the supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, raised questions about the fairness of elections in the world's largest democratic sovereign state.
Dujarric's strange statement about the Indian elections came following the arrest of Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case and the suspension of India's main opposition party, Congress' bank accounts on charges of tax evasion.
"What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone's rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair," Dujarric said.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar wasted little time in underplaying Dujarric's comments, emphasizing that India was a vibrant democracy and people of India would make sure that polls in the country were "free and fair".
"I don't need the UN to tell me that our elections should be free and fair. I have the people of India. They will ensure that the elections are free and fair. So, don't worry about it", India's top diplomat said in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.