Marco Rubio dismisses UN criticism over India protests as domestic matter

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected foreign scrutiny of recent demonstrations in India, calling the protests an internal matter for the world's largest democracy and dismissing United Nations critics as an "oxymoron".

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during his official trip to India, Rubio stated clearly that Washington has no intention of meddling in domestic political debates or second-guessing law enforcement responses.

"It is a domestic political matter. I am not going to comment on it. This is a democracy, they have elections here. I am not going to opine on their domestic, political matters," Rubio said. "We have protests every day in the US."

Asked directly about statements issued by Geneva-based United Nations figures criticising police handling of the demonstrations, Rubio questioned their credibility outright. "Oh, UN experts, my favourite. The UN experts, or is that an oxymoron?"

What prompted the international exchange

The comments followed a statement from more than 20 UN human rights experts who alleged a heavy-handed police response to youth and opposition demonstrations in New Delhi. Opposition parties and student groups had staged demonstrations calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The Election Commission has maintained that the revision exercise is a standard administrative procedure designed to ensure electoral integrity by removing duplicate entries and ineligible names while providing transparent appeals for affected voters.

Rubio drew a sharp distinction between legitimate democratic discourse and the street disorder seen elsewhere. "The fact that people are out there expressing themselves... in any country in the world is the sign that this is a country where there's political discourse and differences of opinion," he said, contrasting India's open society with repressive regimes such as Cuba, where political opposition faces immediate imprisonment and exile.

India rejects selective targeting in Geneva

Rubio's position aligns with India's long-standing diplomatic principle that sovereign democratic processes should remain free from external pressure. At the United Nations, Indian diplomats firmly pushed back against external interference.

Speaking at a session of the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, Barkha Tamrakar, deputy secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, defended the country's constitutional checks and balances against politicised attacks.

"Human rights should not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective country targeting," Tamrakar said. She reiterated that while India engages constructively with international mechanisms, it rejects attempts to use unverified claims or skewed statistics to build a negative narrative around Indian institutions.

Rubio's stop in New Delhi forms part of an active diplomatic itinerary, with a scheduled visit to Jamnagar in Gujarat marking his second official journey to India in four months, reflecting deep strategic coordination between New Delhi and Washington.