Foreign affairs is the prerogative of the Centre and the state governments should not intrude into matters beyond their constitutional jurisdiction, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
The ministry’s comment came in response to questions about the Kerala government appointing Indian Administrative Service officer K Vasuki as a secretary in charge of “external cooperation” on July 15.
“Let’s be very clear, the Constitution of India, under the Seventh Schedule, List-I, which is the Union List, Item Number 10, clearly specifies that foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country are the sole prerogative of the Union Government,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a press briefing on Thursday.
Foreign affairs is neither a subject in the concurrent list, nor is it on the state list, Jaiswal said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in Opposition in Kerala, had criticised the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government for the appointment of a secretary in charge of “external cooperation”.
On July 20, Kerala Chief Secretary Venu V said in a social media post that the division to handle external cooperation had been created some time ago for better coordination with delegates from foreign agencies and other countries coming to the state.
The state government’s decision was not akin to appointing a “foreign secretary” and it is aware of foreign affairs being a subject solely handled by the Centre, the chief secretary had said.
In June, the external affairs ministry had denied Kerala’s health minister Veena George political clearance for her visit to Kuwait as the state government’s representative in the aftermath of a building fire that killed 23 persons from the state.
On Thursday, Jaiswal reiterated his comment about foreign affairs being the Centre’s prerogative while responding to a question about Dhaka’s objection to recent remarks made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee said on Sunday that her state will keep its doors open and offer shelter to persons in distress from Bangladesh amid the deadly anti-quota stir.
“I can [confirm] that we have received a diplomatic note, a communication from Bangladeshi side protesting the comments made by chief minister of West Bengal,” said Jaiwal. “It is essentially on the lines that you would have seen in the reports that have come out today.”
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