Our lowest voter turnout is higher than your highest': Jaishankar slams western media over poll critique

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday hit back at western media over their remarks on India's Lok Sabha polls, saying that their criticism comes from a misplaced notion that they are "political players in our elections".

Jaishankar was reacting to an article that questioned India's decision to conduct elections during a heatwave. "I get a lot of these noises from the Western press and if they criticize our democracy, it's not because they lack information. It is because they think they are also political players in our election."

"Now I read that article and I wanted to say listen, in that heat my lowest turnout is higher than your highest turnout in the best run," he quipped. "These are politics. These are our domestic politics which is going global, global politics which feels they must now intrude in India. How can these chaps decide who should be ruling them without consulting us?" he said.

"They (West) actually think they are part of our electorate? ... I think it's time today that we disabuse them and the best way that we do that, is by confidence," the minister said.

Jaishankar also called out the western critics' tendency to question everything about India's electoral system, including EVMs and the Election Commission itself.

"They will question your election system, your EVM, your election commission, even the weather ... And one complaint is ... BJP is so unfair, BJP thinks it's going to win very big," he said, adding that, in a kind of way, today, we are at a very important inflection point.

The minister added that decisions the government will be making are not merely for the next five years but will also provide a significant vote of confidence for our nation, society and future generations. 

Recalling the G20 Summit, Jaishankar noted that during India's presidency several countries desired to engage with the country. 

"During our G20 presidency, a number of countries, but particularly this was an initiative called IMEC through Saudi Arabia, they wanted to connect India to Europe. Russia and Iran also want a connectivity passage to Europe. In the east, countries like Vietnam, and Cambodia, want a passage through Myanmar to India," he said. 

Lauding India's prominence on the global stage, Jaishankar said that there is a lot of interest in somehow accessing India, connecting to India, and working with India.