Rubio to Meet India’s Jaishankar in Mumbai, Skipping New Delhi as Opposition Cries Foul
The secretary of state's decision to bypass New Delhi for meetings in Mumbai and Jamnagar has drawn sharp criticism from India's opposition, which accuses Washington of summoning the country's top diplomat.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai on Monday, part of a visit to India that skips the capital, New Delhi — a choice that has set off a political fight in India.
Rubio will then visit an oil refinery in Jamnagar, in the western state of Gujarat, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department. It is Rubio’s second trip to India in six months.
The controversy began with how the trip was announced. The White House disclosed the visit before India’s foreign ministry had confirmed it, and U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Thursday that Washington “expected” Jaishankar and other officials to travel from the capital to Mumbai.
Opposition calls the arrangement humiliating
Opposition Congress leaders called the arrangement humiliating. Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh wrote on X that the ambassador’s statement was “quite extraordinary.” Rahul Gandhi, the opposition leader in the lower house of parliament, wrote Friday that Rubio had “summoned his employee to Mumbai.”
Congress MP Pawan Khera went further: “A foreign government summoning India’s External Affairs Minister on Indian soil is a new low, even by the Modi Government’s standards,” he wrote on X, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India’s foreign ministry pushes back
India’s Ministry of External Affairs defended the meeting on Friday. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said energy and trade would be on the agenda, and that hosting foreign dignitaries outside the capital has been normal practice over the past decade. He cited past meetings held in other Indian cities, including the Spanish prime minister in Baroda and the German chancellor in Ahmedabad.
Earlier in the week, Jaiswal had declined to confirm the trip, telling reporters India would announce it “at the appropriate time,” according to The Hindu.
The visit comes as ties between the two countries are strained over trade, tariffs and India’s purchases of Russian oil. Jaiswal also said Jaishankar would host the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of the UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Mumbai on Oct. 19 and 20.
Reporting based on coverage by Al Jazeera, Mint and The Hindu BusinessLine.
