US Ambassador’s ‘Ready To Assist If Asked’ Remarks On Manipur Raises Hackles

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti’s “ready to assist in any way if asked” remark (watch this) on the ongoing violence in Manipur has raised hackles in India. 

Garcetti, while on a visit to Kolkata on Thursday (6 July), was speaking to reporters. A journalist from The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based newspaper, asked him a question on Manipur.

The question, which qualified by a lengthy and opinionated statement from the representative of The Telegraph, ran like this: “Manipur is burning, so many people have died and there are attacks on Christian minorities. Is this a concern for the US administration? The US champions itself as a protector of minority rights. So what are your comments on that? 

Garcetti replied: “We pray for peace in Manipur. 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 that peace is a precedent for so many good things.

"There has been so much progress in the North East and the East. The country has done some remarkable things in recent years and those can’t continue without peace.

"So we stand ready and willing to assist in any way if asked. We know it's an Indian matter and we pray for that peace and that it may come quickly. Because we can bring more collaboration, more projects, more investment if that peace is in place."

On democracy, Garcetti said: “Democracy is difficult, right? We come from a place of a lot of humility in the United States. Protecting minority rights is not easy to do even in the United States. Democracies are both about majority rule and about all voices being protected.

"Those are our values, we talk about them, we talk about them in an unabashed way and we believe in them deeply in our core. They are reflected in the documents of our country as well as are reflected in the documents of yours as well. 

“Democracy is not about what the Vice President (Kamala Harris) talked about at the state luncheon… its not just about establishing democracy, it is about maintaining democracy always.

"So that’s something we struggle to do in the United States and I know that people, since the founding of the Republic of India, do the same. We won’t avoid those conversations in private, but we will also not wag our finger. I think there’s an unconscious paternalism that for too long defined relations with India.

“India is for Indians to determine its pathway. We’re here as friends, we’re here to have conversations that are important, we’re here to engage in the promotion of everyone’s rights whether it's making sure that there’s no trafficking of persons, the empowerment of women, the LGBTQI populations are respected….we raise the pride flag proudly from the embassy and from here at the consulate because these are just the things we believe make the world a better place.

"And so we think that we gain a lot when democracies are able to engage …and building a sense of belonging which is a guiding principle for me as ambassador and for us as a country”. 

“The US envoy ought to have simply said that what is happening in Manipur is an internal matter and he would not comment on it. Instead, he went on to make some unwelcome remarks. He said the US is ready to help (in Manipur). What did he mean by that? How can the US possibly help?” wondered Kaustav Basu, a professor of international relations. 

Social media users expressed anger over Garcetti's patronising remarks on Manipur and some even called on him to retract his statement. Some angry netizens even asked for his recall by the US State Department.

Congress leader Manish Tewari was the first to criticise the US envoy, 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 & wisdom. Even when Robin Raphel would be loquacious on J&K in the 1990’s the US Ambassador’s in India were circumspect. I doubt if the New @USAmbIndia @ericgarcetti 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”. 

Speaking to a news agency, Tewari said: “India has never appreciated any statement for its internal matters. There is gun violence in the US & several people are killed. We never told the US to learn from us as to how to rein that in. The US faces riots over racism. We never told them that we will lecture them...Perhaps it is important for the new Ambassador to take cognisance of the history of India-US relations”. 

A huge number of netizens supported Tewari. Many were also critical of The Telegraph’s representative for posing such a query to the US envoy.