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The American Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which claims to monitor international religious freedom, has once again given rise to a new diplomatic controversy by releasing its biased and agenda-based report against India. In its recent report and country brief, the Commission has made baseless allegations against India of violating the rights of religious minorities and attacks on religious places. Not only this, following its old practice, USCIRF has advised Washington that America should link the military aid and arms sales to India with the conditions of religious freedom and put the country in the category of ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC).
The Government of India and the Ministry of External Affairs have completely rejected these claims of the Commission, calling them one-sided, factless and part of a malicious agenda. Indian analysts believe that this US-based organization has lost its political credibility by continuously targeting India’s sovereignty and internal affairs.
This USCIRF report alleges that violent incidents against Sikh, Muslim and Christian communities are increasing in India and their places of worship and Gurudwaras are being targeted. In its report, the Commission has raised questions on the role of the Indian administrative machinery and security agencies, completely ignoring the ground realities and legal procedures. The main focus of the report has been on how cow protection and anti-conversion laws are being used to oppress minorities at the local level in India. However, the Commission has not presented any concrete or unbiased evidence of those cases and incidents of violence, which makes it clear that in preparing the report, only the input of selected and organizations spreading anti-India discourse has been made the basis.
The Commission has included very aggressive and anti-India recommendations in its recommendations submitted to the US administration and Rashtrapati Bhavan. USCIRF has recommended that the US government should mandatorily link bilateral defense agreements, arms sales, and strategic cooperation with India to the status of religious freedom in India. Apart from this, the Commission has even demanded targeted sanctions on individuals or organizations associated with India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and socio-cultural organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Indian diplomatic experts have termed such demands as a deliberate conspiracy in the defense corridors of Washington to weaken the strengthening India-US strategic alliance.
The Indian Foreign Ministry has shown a mirror to USCIRF by reacting sharply to this controversial report. India has clearly stated that this attitude of USCIRF is not new and it has been working for a long time to malign India’s diverse democratic system as per its partisan and narrow agenda. India stressed that the Commission should pay attention to the frequent attacks, hate crimes and extremist activities on the Indian diaspora and Hindu temples in the US and Western countries before interfering in India’s internal affairs and making false claims. India has made it clear that as a sovereign and rule of law country, India does not need the certification of any external biased institution to protect the rights and security of its people.