India opposition leader reacts after US envoy offers help over Manipur violence: ‘Our internal affairs’

Manish Tewari reacted after US ambassador Eric Garcetti responded to a question on Manipur to say that it was more about human concerns that strategic.

• Shubham
• 07 July, 2023

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By: Shubham Ghosh

A TOP leader of Indian National Congress on Friday (7) sharply reacted to the remark by US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti that his country is “ready to assist” the Narendra Modi government in restoring peace in the violence-hit northeastern state of Manipur even as he admitted that it was India’s internal matter.

Speaking at an interactive session with the media at the American Centre in Kolkata in the eastern state of West Bengal, Garcetti responded to a question on Manipur to say that it was more about human concerns that strategic. “You don’t have to be an Indian to care when children or individuals die in this sort of violence,” the diplomat, who took over as the envoy to India in May, said.

#WATCH | US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti speaks on Manipur violence, says," I don't think it's about strategic concerns, it's about human concerns. You don't have to be an Indian to care when children or individuals die in this sort of violence. We know peace as a precedent… pic.twitter.com/4ZniEo6Opz

— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2023

“We stand ready to assist in any ways if asked. We know it’s an Indian matter and we pray for that peace and that it may come quickly,” he said.

The state of Manipur, which borders Myanmar, has been witnessing fierce ethnic clashes and violence since May 3, resulting in deaths of more than 130 people and injuries to several more. Thousands of people lost their homes were spending days with families at relief camps.

Senior Congress leader and former federal minister Manish Tewari said in his four decades of public life, he never heard an American ambassador making such a statement about India’s internal affairs.

#WATCH | Congress MP Manish Tewari says, "What is happening in Manipur is tragic. PM should have gone there and spoken up much earlier. HM should have visited the state continuously until normalcy returns there…We will raise this issue in the Parliament. As far as the US… https://t.co/n66U6xVyZ8 pic.twitter.com/8UBl6Z1XbQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2023

“We faced Challenges in Punjab, J&K , North East over the decades and surmounted those with sagacity & wisdom. I doubt if the New @USAmbIndia @ericgarcettz is cognisant of the convoluted & torturous history of US-India relations & our sensitivity about interference perceived or real, well intentioned or mal intentioned into our internal affairs,” Tewari tweeted.

As much as I can recall after spending over 4 decades in Public life, I have never heard an US Ambassador making a statement of this nature about the internal affairs of India.

We faced Challenges in Punjab, J&K , North East over the decades and surmounted those with sagacity &… https://t.co/9O0gtvXwFE

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) July 7, 2023