The congressional body has accused the Indian government of misusing laws like the UAPA, the FCRA, and the CAA to “crack down” on religious minorities and civil society organisations.
The Union government on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) lashed out at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its latest report that expresses concerns about “attacks and discrimination” against religious minorities in India and calls for sanctions against India’s intelligence agency.
The 2025 Annual Report of the USCIRF has recommended again that the U.S. government designate India, along with 15 other countries, a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
Modi accused of hateful rhetoric
In its sharpest criticism thus far, the USCIRF, a congressional body that does not represent the U.S. government but is mandated to make recommendations to it, accused the Indian government of misusing laws such as the UAPA, FCRA, and CAA to “crack down” on religious minorities and civil society organisations, and even accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities to gather political support”.
For the first time, the USCIRF called for sanctions against the Research and Analysis Wing and Vikas Yadav, named in the Pannun assassination plot case. It also sought the application of the Transnational Repression Act on India and a review of the sale of MQ-9B Predator drones for their potential use in “religious freedom violations” by Indian authorities.
‘Politically motivated’
“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,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to questions, calling the latest report a part of the “pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments”.
“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 spokesperson added, referring to the USCIRF’s demands on designations and targeted sanctions.
This is the sixth time the USCIRF has recommended India’s designation as a CPC along with countries such as China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. However, on each occasion, the U.S. State Department has declined to add India to the CPC list.
Nevertheless, the government has reacted sharply to the USCIRF’s annual reports, and except for once, in 2016, has not allowed its members to visit India.
The USCIRF is currently chaired by academic Stephen Schneck who was appointed in 2022 by the previous Biden administration, and who refers to himself as a “Catholic advocate in public life for social justice”.
In its report released on March 25 (https://www.uscirf.gov/annual-reports), which studied about 30 countries, the USCIRF made a number of allegations against the Modi government for the situation in India last year, stating that “religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise”.
Making a particular mention of the 2024 election campaign, it accused ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, of targeting minorities in their speeches.
“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,” it said.
The report also said that anti-conversion laws had been tightened and implemented arbitrarily in Uttar Pradesh, where the police “detained 20 Christians, including four pastors”. It also referred to Chhattisgarh, accusing the police of not intervening as “a Hindu mob of over 200 people attacked 18 Christian families in Chhattisgarh”.
Next, it said the “Indian government continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community”, referring to the Pannun case in the U.S. and the Nijjar killing in Canada.
In his response, Mr. Jaiswal accused the USCIRF of refusing to engage with the “reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities”.
According to its website, the USCIRF is an “independent, bipartisan US federal government agency” set up under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. In March 2005, the U.S. government had revoked Mr. Modi’s U.S. visa for “violations of religious freedom”after the USCIRF’s recommendation following the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Centre slams ‘biased’ report by U.S. commission on religious freedom
The congressional body has accused the Indian government of misusing laws like the UAPA, the FCRA, and the CAA to “crack down” on religious minorities and civil society organisations.
The Union government on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) lashed out at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its latest report that expresses concerns about “attacks and discrimination” against religious minorities in India and calls for sanctions against India’s intelligence agency.
The 2025 Annual Report of the USCIRF has recommended again that the U.S. government designate India, along with 15 other countries, a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
Modi accused of hateful rhetoric
In its sharpest criticism thus far, the USCIRF, a congressional body that does not represent the U.S. government but is mandated to make recommendations to it, accused the Indian government of misusing laws such as the UAPA, FCRA, and CAA to “crack down” on religious minorities and civil society organisations, and even accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities to gather political support”.
For the first time, the USCIRF called for sanctions against the Research and Analysis Wing and Vikas Yadav, named in the Pannun assassination plot case. It also sought the application of the Transnational Repression Act on India and a review of the sale of MQ-9B Predator drones for their potential use in “religious freedom violations” by Indian authorities.
‘Politically motivated’
“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,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to questions, calling the latest report a part of the “pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments”.
“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 spokesperson added, referring to the USCIRF’s demands on designations and targeted sanctions.
This is the sixth time the USCIRF has recommended India’s designation as a CPC along with countries such as China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. However, on each occasion, the U.S. State Department has declined to add India to the CPC list.
Nevertheless, the government has reacted sharply to the USCIRF’s annual reports, and except for once, in 2016, has not allowed its members to visit India.
The USCIRF is currently chaired by academic Stephen Schneck who was appointed in 2022 by the previous Biden administration, and who refers to himself as a “Catholic advocate in public life for social justice”.
In its report released on March 25 (https://www.uscirf.gov/annual-reports), which studied about 30 countries, the USCIRF made a number of allegations against the Modi government for the situation in India last year, stating that “religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise”.
Making a particular mention of the 2024 election campaign, it accused ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, of targeting minorities in their speeches.
“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,” it said.
The report also said that anti-conversion laws had been tightened and implemented arbitrarily in Uttar Pradesh, where the police “detained 20 Christians, including four pastors”. It also referred to Chhattisgarh, accusing the police of not intervening as “a Hindu mob of over 200 people attacked 18 Christian families in Chhattisgarh”.
Next, it said the “Indian government continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community”, referring to the Pannun case in the U.S. and the Nijjar killing in Canada.
In his response, Mr. Jaiswal accused the USCIRF of refusing to engage with the “reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities”.
According to its website, the USCIRF is an “independent, bipartisan US federal government agency” set up under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. In March 2005, the U.S. government had revoked Mr. Modi’s U.S. visa for “violations of religious freedom”after the USCIRF’s recommendation following the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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