'Who is United Nations to talk about free, fair elections in India,' says Rajnath Singh

“Who is United Nations to talk about free and fair elections in India," asked Union Minister Rajnath Singh hitting back at the remark made by a senior offical of the world body ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 polls in the wake of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of the Opposition Congress’ bank accounts.

In an exclusive interview to Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, minister Rajnath Singh said: “Did India not have free and fair elections before this? Weren’t the 2019 elections free and fair? And what about 2014?"

“In fact, I say even before 2014 India had free and fair elections. Where did this issue come from?” Singh said, lashing out at the UN.

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The Union minister was reacting to a statement made by Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, who last week had said: “What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone’s rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair.”

Dujarric was responding to a question, asked to him during a press conference at the UN, about the “political unrest” in India ahead of the upcoming national polls in the wake of the arrest of Kejriwal and the freezing of bank accounts of Congress party.

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On Thursday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar also dismissed the senior UN official’s remark, saying he does not need the global body to specify that elections in India should be “free and fair”.

“I don’t need the United Nations to tell me our elections should be free and fair. I have the people of India. The people of India will ensure that elections are free and fair. So, don’t worry about it,” Jaishankar said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.