Won't opine on domestic politics: Rubio sidesteps question on anti-CEC protests

Rubio declined to comment on anti-CEC protests, calling them India's internal political matter and saying it was for the Indian people to decide, while questioning the credibility of UN experts who criticised the handling of the demonstrations.Rubio said India’s internal political matters were for its people to decide and Washington would not comment on them.New Delhi,Oct 21, 2026 13:13 ISTUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday declined to comment on protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, calling them a domestic political matter in a democracy.When asked about demonstrations by opposition parties and students, as well as criticism from UN experts over the alleged crackdown on protesters, Rubio said Washington would not interfere in India’s internal political affairs.“This is a democracy. They have elections here. So I am not going to opine on their domestic political matters,” he said, adding that political disagreements and people expressing their views were part of democratic discourse.Rubio also took a swipe at UN experts who had criticised India’s handling of the demonstrations, questioning the credibility of the term itself. “Well, the UN experts, yeah. My favourite. The UN experts, or is that an oxymoron?” Rubio, during his ongoing visit to India, his second in five months, remarked when asked about the UN’s criticism.Drawing a distinction between peaceful demonstrations and violent unrest, Rubio said public expressions of dissent were a feature of democratic societies, while making clear he was not referring specifically to India. “I mean, obviously, I'm not talking about the riots like what you're seeing in Europe where they're vandalising and breaking into things and burning down buildings. I'm not talking about that,” he said.“But in many ways, the fact that people are out there expressing themselves, I'm not talking about India, in any country in the world is the sign that this is a country where there's political discourse and so forth and differences of opinion,” he added.Rubio also pointed to Cuba as a contrast, saying opposition voices there faced restrictions and could risk imprisonment, oppression or exile.“So, the fact that you just said a moment ago, as part of your question, the opposition, there's no, for example, like in Cuba, there is no opposition, like a rat that can actually go out and do anything without going to jail and being oppressed or exiled,” he said.The protests stem from opposition parties’ and student groups’ demand for Kumar’s resignation over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Protesters have questioned the deletion of names from voter lists and raised allegations of irregularities in the exercise.The Election Commission has defended the revision, saying it is intended to weed out duplicate entries and the names of deceased, shifted and otherwise ineligible voters, while allowing those affected to appeal.- Ends