May 02, 2024 06:57 PM IST
New Delhi has often bristled at the reports of organisations such as the USCIRF and accused them of being biased against India. It has always rejected such reports in recent years
New Delhi: India on Thursday dismissed a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that expressed concern over religious freedom in the country, saying the panel was indulging in propaganda and attempting to interfere in the general election.
The USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan US federal government agency that issues an annual report on religious freedom around the world, said in its report for 2024 that it “continues to have ongoing concerns” about India, where it has “seen backsliding”.
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It reiterated its recommendation that the US state department declare India a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) in the context of religious freedom.
“The USCIRF is known as a biased organisation with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing when asked about the report released on Wednesday.
“We really have no expectation that USCIRF will even seek to understand India’s diverse, pluralistic and democratic ethos. Their efforts to interfere in the largest electoral exercise of the world will never succeed,” he said.
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New Delhi has often bristled at the reports of organisations such as the USCIRF and accused them of being biased against India. It has always rejected such reports in recent years.
The USCIRF, in its latest report, noted that the US state department had not designated India as a CPC in 2023 despite the commission’s recommendations and the state department’s reporting on “particularly severe religious freedom violations” in the country. It recommended that the state department should designate Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Nigeria and Vietnam as CPCs.
The report contended that religious freedom conditions in India “continued to deteriorate” during 2023, and the government “reinforced discriminatory nationalist policies” and “failed to address communal violence disproportionately affecting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Jews, and Adivasis”.
The report alleged that the enforcement of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, Citizenship Amendment Act and anti-conversion laws resulted in the arbitrary detention, monitoring and targeting of religious minorities.
According to the report, NGOs reported 687 incidents of violence against Christians in 2023, more than 500 churches and two synagogues were destroyed and more than 70,000 people were displaced during clashes in Manipur in June 2023.
The USCIRF further recommended that the US should condition financial assistance and arms sales to India on improved religious freedom conditions.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music.
