India hits back, row with U.S. hots up

Withdraws some privileges in retaliation for arrest of Indian deputy consul

December 17, 2013 12:33 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 09:02 pm IST - New Delhi

Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s father Uttam Khobragade coming out of South Block after meeting External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s father Uttam Khobragade coming out of South Block after meeting External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

India on Tuesday set in motion an array of retaliatory steps against U.S. diplomats based across the country for the manner of arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York, signalling the escalation of an unprecedented bilateral row.

The government asked all U.S. consular officers to turn in their identity cards and the entire American diplomatic corps their airport passes while senior Congress leaders snubbed a visiting U.S. Congressional delegation for the second straight day by refusing to meet it.

The government also ordered the Delhi Police to remove concrete barricades on public land and roads that have existed for years around the U.S. embassy, sought salary details and bank accounts of all Indian staff employed at the missions and stopped all import clearances for the U.S. embassy, especially for liquor.

The government’s action was backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which urged the Centre to “match each and every step of the U.S., to take serious action in this matter to establish Indian sovereignty and prestige of its diplomatic community.’’ Talking to newspersons, BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad also took a dig at the government by saying the U.S.’ actions do “not accord to the level of friendship that the Indian government claims to have with the U.S’’.

“We will deal with them exactly the same way they are dealing with us. Not anything more, not anything less. While the U.S. doesn’t provide many courtesies to our diplomats, we go out of the way not to withhold those facilities. If they are downgrading what we are entitled to as diplomats, they will also get the same treatment. This way we will both be going strictly by the rules,’’ said an Indian diplomat encapsulating the method behind the day’s activity.

“We have put in motion what we believe is an effective way to address this issue, protect her dignity. We have communicated the essence we feel in diplomatic terms and also due to the human element,’’ said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

After Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar refused to meet the five U.S. Congressmen on Monday, Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde declined to meet them on Tuesday in protest against handcuffing and strip search of diplomat Devyani Khobragade over a contractual issue with her help.

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also tweeted saying he had declined to meet the Congressmen in solidarity with the diplomat.

These “reciprocal steps” would “convey a clear message that this kind of treatment of a diplomat is unacceptable,’’ said government sources handling the dispute. The former External Affairs Minister and BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, called on the government to expel all gay partners of U.S. diplomats.

Dr. Khobragade was arrested last Thursday.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.