US panel wants India on religious freedom blacklist
A US government panel has called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a “drastic” downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy. In an annual report, the bipartisan panel said that India should join the ranks of ‘countries of particular concern’ that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.
“In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault,” the report said. It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials responsible, and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.
This is the first time since 2004 that the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom has recommended India as a “Country of Particular Concern”.
The panel has also accused the government of creating “a culture of impunity for nationwide campaigns of harassment and violence against religious minorities”.
Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath find a mention in the report. “Home Minister Amit Shah referred to migrants as ‘termites’ to be eradicated… in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath pledged ‘revenge’ against anti-CAA protestors and stated they should be fed ‘bullets not biryani’,” it said.
It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir, which was India’s only Muslim-majority state, and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.
However, the Indian government, for its part, does not recognise the USCIRF. Reacting to the report, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava told the media, “We reject the observations on India in the USCIRF annual report. Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels… It has not been able to carry its own commissioners in its endeavor. We regard it as an organisation of particular concern and will treat it accordingly.”
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