US lawmaker Pramila Jaypal writes to Rubio, urges to raise handling of CJP protest with India

Six US Democratic lawmakers, including Pramila Jayapal have urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will visit India next week and meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Mumbai, to raise with his Indian counterparts the alleged "excessive use of force" during student protests, linked to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in Delhi and other parts of India.

"As the world’s largest democracies, the U.S. and India have an obligation to promote and defend the rights to freedom of assembly and expression."

"@RepMcGovern and I are urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prioritize those freedoms and human rights when he meets with Indian officials in the coming days," Jayapal, the Indian-origin Democratic Party lawmaker further wrote urging Rubio for action.

The lawmaker also levelled allegations against the Indian Embassy in Washington and consulates in other American cities of deploying photographers to monitor protesters demonstrating in support of the CJP.

“We write with concern regarding a pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India,” said Jayapal.

India slams Pramila Jayapal

This is not the first time that Jayapal has criticised the Indian government. On Thursday, Jayapal had expressed concern on social media over the revision of electoral rolls in India. She claimed that the move looked like removing 130 million people from voting lists.

The allegations were vociferously refuted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that said her comments amounted to interference in the electoral practices of another democracy.

“We find the remarks of the Congresswoman unwarranted and uninformed and tantamount to interfering in the electoral practices of a fellow democracy," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

“This is an approach that undermines democracy itself," he added.