Is the US-Indian relationship brittle? Washington Reacts

In response to recent reports suggesting democratic backsliding in India and the US managing ties with the nation, a spokeswoman for the US Department of State, Matthew Miller, said that Washington still views New Delhi as a strategic partner.
In answer to a query, Matthew Miller reiterated the US’s strategic partnership with India and said that the two nations had close ties.

During a daily news conference on Monday, Miller said, “So India is the world’s largest democracy, it is an important strategic partner of the United States, and I expect that to remain true.”

Spokesman for the US Department of State Mathew Miller questioned on April 4 whether the department was taking a stance on the detention of Delhi Chief Minister and opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal in India but not on the arrests of opposition leaders in Pakistan.

Matthew Miller said that the US desired that everyone in Pakistan be treated consistently with respect to the rule of law and human rights, refusing to combine the two instances into a single category.

Throughout the press conference, there have been many mentions of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s detention.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) detained Kejriwal on suspicion of money laundering in relation to the Delhi excise policy issue.

Miller had stated that they are carefully monitoring India’s activities in response to the US ambassador that India had summoned over remarks on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and the blocking of the Congress party’s bank accounts.
“We are still keeping a careful eye on these developments, especially Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi. We are also aware of the claims made by the Congress party that some of their financial accounts have been blocked by tax officials, which will make it difficult for them to run a successful campaign in the next elections,” Miller said.

“And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues,” he said. The US State Department’s comments regarding Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest were deemed “unwarranted” by the Ministry of External Affairs, which further stated that India is proud of its “robust and independent” democratic institutions and that any external impropriety regarding our electoral and legal processes is “completely unacceptable.”