The emerging information warfare narrative being pushed by the West via Germany and the US right now is that India’s upcoming elections might be flawed.
India’s External Affairs Ministry summoned the US’ Acting Deputy Chief of Mission for a 40-minute meeting after State Department meddled in their country’s internal affairs by stating that “We encourage a fair, transparent, and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal.” The Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested over corruption claims last week ahead of India’s upcoming six-week-long elections, after which the Germany became the first to involve itself in this issue via a statement from its Foreign Ministry.
Its remarks were along the lines of the ones that America later made, thus leading to the External Affairs Ministry summoning its Deputy Chief of Mission for a tongue lashing. The fact that the US still issued the statement that it did despite knowing what India’s reaction would be can be interpreted as a political provocation aimed at meddling in its affairs. The emerging information warfare narrative being pushed by the West via Germany and the US right now is that India’s upcoming elections might be flawed.
Kejriwal is known as a vocal critic of the ruling BJP so some have speculated that the case against him is politically motivated and a means of intimidating the opposition ahead of the upcoming elections. There’s no basis to that claim but it nevertheless served as the pretext for those two countries to meddle in India’s affairs through their similar statements implying that he might not receive a fair trial. The larger context in which the US is involving itself in this affair concerns its newly troubled ties with India.
The preceding hyperlinked analyses touch upon the Justice Department’s charges against an unnamed Indian official in late November who’s accused of conspiring to assassinate a Delhi-designated terrorist-separatist with dual American citizenship on US soil last summer. The Anglosphere teamed up against India on this issue but it wasn’t until Monday that a non-Western country, notably China, chimed in to offer its input on this case.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about it by a journalist from Dragon TV, to which he responded that “We hope relevant countries will earnestly observe international law and the basic norms governing international relations.” While his reaction might seem perfunctory to many, it was interpreted by some in India as meddling, with a few also claiming that it confirms previously speculated ties between China and Delhi-designated terrorist-separatist Sikhs.
The optics of Germany, the US, and even China commenting on India’s internal affairs, the first two of whom did so about the Kejriwal case without being prompted and while the third shared their thoughts about the terrorist-separatist one in response to a question, is that foreign pressure is being ramped up ahead of the upcoming six-week-long elections that’ll run from 19 April-1 June. Accordingly, India couldn’t let German and US meddling go on with impunity, especially since they’re fellow democracies.
They know better than to involve themselves in India’s internal affairs yet still did so anyhow with the intent of discrediting its electoral process, which is driven by their dislike of Prime Minister Modi’s conservative-nationalist domestic policies and his truly multipolar foreign policy. Under his leadership, India has partnered with the liberal-globalist West like never before, but it won’t compromise on its sovereignty. That’s a problem for this bloc, however, hence why it wants to pressure him on any grounds.
Looking forward, India isn’t expected to escalate the situation by involving itself in Germany or the US’ internal affairs, though patriotic members of its society – including those in the media and think tanks – might become more critical of those two and the West in general in response to their meddling. Under no circumstances will India let anyone interfere with its domestic processes, let alone discredit its electoral ones by innuendo, so hopefully the West learns this lesson and ceases its troubling behavior.
