US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday declined to comment on the recent protests against the Election Commission in India, describing them as an internal political matter that should be decided by the Indian people.
Rubio, who is currently visiting India, also dismissed a reference to criticism by United Nations human rights experts over the police response to demonstrations in the national capital.
"It's a domestic political matter. I'm not going to get involved in their politics. This is a democracy. They have elections here, so I'm not going to opine on their domestic political matters," Rubio said.
The US Secretary of State maintained that Washington would refrain from commenting on India's domestic political developments.
๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐ถ๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ป๐ผ๐ป-๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
Rubio said protests were common in democratic societies, including the United States, and often reflected differences of opinion among citizens.
"We have protests every day in the United States," he said, while distinguishing peaceful political demonstrations from incidents involving violence and destruction of property.
He referred to riots in Europe involving vandalism, break-ins and arson, clarifying that he was not placing peaceful demonstrations in the same category.
"But in many ways, the fact that people are out there expressing themselves โ I'm not talking about India; in any country in the world โ is the sign that this is a country where there's political discourse and so forth and differences of opinion," Rubio said.
He reiterated that the United States would leave questions concerning India's political affairs to its citizens and institutions.
"We're not going to comment on internal political matters. That's for the Indian people to decide and navigate," he said.
๐จ๐ก ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐
Rubio's comments followed criticism from more than 20 United Nations human rights experts in Geneva on Tuesday over the handling of youth-led demonstrations in New Delhi.
The experts expressed alarm over what they described as a "repeatedly heavy-handed police response" to peaceful protests and called for accountability for reported human rights violations.
They also sought an independent investigation into allegations of excessive force against demonstrators and restrictions on peaceful assembly
Asked about the UN experts' observations, Rubio questioned their credibility, describing the term "UN experts" as an "oxymoron".
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
The demonstrations have been organised by opposition parties, student groups and activists demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Protesters have raised concerns about the deletion of voters' names, while the Election Commission has maintained that the exercise is intended to remove duplicate and otherwise ineligible entries.
The controversy has also prompted legal challenges concerning electoral roll revisions and restrictions on demonstrations in the national capital.
Rubio, however, reiterated that Washington would not take a position on the political dispute, maintaining that such questions should be resolved through India's democratic processes.