"Not sure foreign diplomats would usually comment on internal developments in India": MEA on US envoy's remarks

New Delhi: In an apparent reference to US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti's remarks on the situation in Manipur, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi has said that foreign diplomats would not usually comment on internal developments in India.
Bagchi said in response to queries at the regular media briefing on Thursday that government agencies are working towards peace in the border state. "I haven't seen those comments by the US Ambassador, and if he has made them, we'll see. I haven't had a chance to see, maybe it just happened. I think, you know...we would also see peace there, and I think that our agencies and our security forces are working, and our local government are working on it. I'm not sure foreign diplomats would usually comment on internal developments in India, but I won't like to make a comment without seeing exactly what is being said," Bagchi said.
He was asked about Garcetti's remarks concerning Manipur.
Garcetti on Thursday said that there has been "so much progress" in the Northeast region, and it's not possible without peace. He further stated that the US is ready "to assist in any way" if asked in dealing with the situation in Manipur.
He also stated that violence in Manipur is an "Indian matter" and the US prays for peace in the region as it can bring more collaboration, more projects, and more investment if "peace is in place" in the region.
"I don't think it's about strategic concerns. I think it's about human concerns. I think all of us, you don't have to be Indian to care when children or individuals die in the sort of violence that we see. And we know that peace is the precedent for so many other good things," Garcetti said in a press conference in Kolkata while responding to a question on Manipur.
"There's been so much progress in the Northeast and in the East here. The country has done some remarkable things in recent years, and those can't continue without peace. So we stand ready, willing, able to assist in any way of asked," he said.
Manipur has seen ethnic violence after a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3.
When asked about US National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell's statement that US and India having challenges and that Washington cannot be in a position to lecture any other country, Bagchi said, "I don't know what to say. It's a comment I think Kurt Campbell made, acknowledging that, you know, commenting on other people, other countries, is perhaps not accurate, and he said it. I don't have any comment on it. I think it's a reflection of the relations between India, and the candour and the depth of the relations that we can speak frankly on various issues, and also acknowledge that we have many things that we can work together."
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Kurt Campbell said that both India and the United States have their challenges and he does not think Washington can or should be in a position where it gives lectures to another country on democracy and human rights.
"Each of our countries is imperfect. I don't think the United States can or should be in a position where it lectures any other country."
"I think what President Biden... sought to do was to suggest that for India to meet its full potential, it would need to become more of an example on a number of fronts. And I think that message was delivered with respect and I think it was heard in that vein," Campbell said in response to a question about comments on democracy and human rights in India.