- Sunday, March 30, 2025
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has flagged concern over the deteriorating treatment of minorities in India
By: India Weekly
INDIA on Wednesday (26) trashed a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which had flagged concern over the deteriorating treatment of minorities in the country.
New Delhi said USCIRF’s “persistent” attempts to cast aspersions on the country’s vibrant multicultural society reflect a “deliberate” agenda.
It termed the report as “biased and politically motivated” and said the efforts to “undermine” India’s standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed.
The USCIRF has recommended targeted sanctions against India’s external spy agency over alleged involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatists.
Analysts say Washington has long seen New Delhi as a counter to China’s rising influence in Asia and elsewhere, and, hence, overlooked human rights issues in India.
It is unlikely the US government will sanction India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service, as the panel’s recommendations are not binding.
Since 2023, India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the US and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in US-India ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, in a foiled U.S. plot.
India labels Sikh separatists as security threats and has denied involvement.
“In 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise,” the U.S. commission said in a report released on Tuesday.
It said prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign.
Modi in April last year referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” who have “more children.”
US State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom have noted minority abuses in recent years.
Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014, denies discrimination and says his government’s policies like electrification drives and subsidy schemes help all communities.
The panel recommended the US government “designate India as a ‘country of particular concern'” for religious freedom violations and “impose targeted sanctions” against Yadav and RAW.
Rights advocates, in noting the plight of Indian minorities, point to rising hate speech, a citizenship law the UN called “fundamentally discriminatory,” anti-conversion legislation that critics say challenges freedom of belief, the revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir’s special status and the demolition of properties owned by Muslims.
Authorities in India continued to exploit anti-terror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom, it claimed.
The commission is a bipartisan US government advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report once again continued its pattern of issuing “biased and politically motivated assessments.”
“The USCIRF’s persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India’s vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom,” he said.
“We have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities,” he added. (Agencies)
