Six members of Congress, among them Representative Pramila Jayapal, sent a written appeal to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising questions about what they described as the unlawful detention of protesters and the disproportionate force reportedly used against them, as unrest continued in Delhi. The delegation formally urged Rubio to press the Indian government for an inquiry into the matter — one independent of political influence and free of any conflict of interest.
The development follows India's pushback against earlier statements Jayapal made regarding changes to the country's voter registration records. India's Ministry of External Affairs had described the remarks as "unwarranted," characterising them as an intrusion into the "electoral practices of a fellow democracy."
The letter carried signatures from Jayapal alongside Representatives James P. McGovern, Jesus G. Chuy Garcia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. The group pressed Rubio to raise those concerns when he meets with Indian officials during his forthcoming trip.
The letter also raised the matter of what the lawmakers described as apparent surveillance and intimidation of people exercising fundamental rights on American soil by individuals connected to or working alongside the Indian Embassy and consulates. It called into question the transparency of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in India, and urged Rubio to press the Indian government to investigate alleged human rights violations tied to the law enforcement response to protests.
The lawmakers further called for the release of those held in contravention of Indian and international law for peacefully exercising rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The letter noted that Jayapal had previously flagged reports indicating that approximately 130 million names had been removed from India's draft electoral rolls.
Jayapal, a Chennai-born lawmaker who relocated to the United States in 1982, posted on social media that she held deep reservations about what she described as moves by the Indian government to remove around 130 million people from electoral rolls, drawing a parallel to steps she said the Trump administration was taking in the United States to weaken voting rights. In reply, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal characterised her remarks as unwarranted, uninformed, and an instance of interference in the electoral processes of another democracy.
Jayapal's remarks came on the heels of street protests led by young people and opposition parties throughout India, who raised concerns about alleged procedural irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls — a process she described as posing risks to democratic governance. Millions of names were struck from voter rolls as a result of the process.
