"I raised this issue and even told them that when the news was reported in the media, people were angry," Swaraj told a joint press conference with Kerry following the fifth round of strategic dialogue that discussed wide ranging cooperation in security, energy and trade issues.
"I even told him that both countries consider each other as friendly nations and it will not be acceptable to us from any angle if one friendly country spies on another friendly country. This is unacceptable to us," Swaraj noted emphatically.
A classified document made public by the Washington Post earlier this month showed that BJP was among authorised targets for NSA in 2010.
In response, a defensive Kerry told reporters: "We value our relationship with India, our bilateral relationship... We also value sharing of information between each other regarding counter-terrorism and other threats to both of our countries. Usually, we try to have our intelligence communities to work to resolve any questions or differences that may exist. We will continue to work actively with India wherever we see a threat to our shared interest and we fully respect and understand the feelings expressed by the minister."
While the Indian side raised the snooping issue and security and counter-terror partnership was part of the dialogue, commerce and investments were clearly the priority for Kerry.
He welcomed raised foreign investment ceilings in several sectors of the Indian economy, including defence, railways, e-commerce and insurance, according to a joint statement issued at the end of the dialogue.
The two sides agreed to identify specific areas for investment in India's manufacturing and infrastructure sectors including through establishing a new initiative in this regard. They also sought to empower the India-US CEO Forum to build a better business environment. The two sides planned to expand the Commercial Dialogue.
Kerry told reporters that private American firms could be catalyst for change in India and fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas'.
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