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Months after India slammed USCIRF's "persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on the country's vibrant multicultural society", the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has come out with a report, which alleges that India's "political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities" despite offering some constitutional protections for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).
The Ministry of External Affairs had, in March this year, responded to media queries concerning the USCIRF Annual Report and said it contains biased and politically motivated assessments. "We have seen the recently released 2025 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said. "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," he added. USCIRF said on Wednesday that its report 'Systematic Religious Persecution in India' provides an overview of India's social, political, and criminal justice systems as they relate to issues regarding freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). "It also examines the relationship between Hindu nationalist groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the implications of this dynamic for FoRB. Despite offering some constitutional protections for FoRB, India's political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities," the report alleged. It alleged that the interconnected relationship between the RSS and BJP further "allows for the creation and enforcement of several discriminatory pieces of legislation, including citizenship, anti-conversion, and cow slaughter laws". "The enforcement of such laws disproportionately targets and impacts religious minorities and their ability to freely practice their religion or belief as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a signatory," the report said. In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF had recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a Country of Particular Concern, or CPC, "for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations". Jaiswal noted in March this year that India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. He had said that USCIRF should be designated as an entity of concern "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," he said. MEA had earlier termed USCIRF "a biased organisation with a political agenda" and said it continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. (ANI)
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