New Delhi, Mar 26 :
India on Wednesday slammed the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its “biased and politically motivated” report, which it said “casts aspersions on India’s vibrant multicultural society” and is reflective of “a deliberate agenda”.
The USCIRF, in its latest report recommends that India be designated as a Country of Particular Concern, “for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.
The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a statement, said that rather it is the USCIRF “that should be designated as an entity of concern”.
The statement said the USCIRF in its 2025 report “once again continues 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.
“India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind.
“However, 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.
“Such efforts to undermine India’s standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern,” the MEA statement said.
Among its recommendations on India, the USCIRF report says that:
*targeted sanctions be imposed on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and the RAW, “for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States”
*Encourage the US Embassy and consulates to incorporate religious freedom into public statements and speeches, as outlined in the US Department of State’s Guidelines to Support Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders.
The US Congress should:
Reintroduce, pass, and enforce the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 to ensure the annual reporting of acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States;
Conduct a review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B Drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations; and
Request and prioritize meetings with religious minority communities and faith-based civil society organizations during congressional delegations to India.
In its summary on India, the USCIRF said that in 2024 “religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise”.
It said that ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities to gather political support”.
“Such rhetoric-fuelled attacks on religious minorities that continued after the election, including vigilante violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, and demolition of property and places of worship”.
Referring to the crackdown on civil society organisations, it said “Authorities continued to exploit antiterror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to crack down on civil society organizations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom”.
On the new criminal code, it said the new legislation left “religious minorities susceptible to targeting if it deemed them as “endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India”.
It said that “Several individuals remained in detention under the UAPA for peacefully protesting the CAA in 2019, including Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider, and Sharjeel Imam. In combination with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), requiring all residents to provide proof of citizenship, the CAA sparked fear among Muslim communities that the authorities may strip them of their citizenship—as in July, when Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam declared 28 Muslims “non-citizens” and sent them to deportation centers”.
It said that various authorities, including the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), “facilitated the expropriation and demolition of places of worship, including the construction of Hindu temples atop razed mosques”.
It referred to the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, “which stands on the ruins of the Babri Masjid that a Hindu mob demolished in 1992”.
“Following the consecration, attacks against religious minorities erupted across six states. Authorities also repeatedly violated Section 295 of India’s Penal Code, which criminalizes the destruction or damage of houses of worship, by bulldozing Muslim-owned property including mosques deemed “illegal”.”
On the activities of pro-Khalistan elements in Canada and other countries abroad, the USCIRF report said:
“The Indian government also continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates. Journalists, academics, and civil society organizations documenting India’s religious freedom violations reported denial of consular services, including the revocation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards as well as threats of
violence and surveillance.
“International reporting and intelligence from the Canadian government corroborated allegations linking an official in India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and six diplomats to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York”, it said in reference to Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Created by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US government advisory body, separate from the State Department, that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and the US Congress.
