India, along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, have been designated a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC), i.e., a category of governments performing most poorly on religious freedom criteria, by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan independent body. 

Saying religious freedom conditions in India had “significantly worsened“ in 2021, the USCIRF recommended that India, along with  Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia, as well as China, Myanmar, Nigeria, Syria, Vietnam, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan be designated as CPCs by the State Department.

The State Department, which has its own Office of International Religious Freedom, is not bound by the Commission’s recommendations and has not accepted the CPC recommendation for India for the two years, The Hindu noted.  The Indian government has, previously, pushed back against the USCIRF’s grading, questioning its locus standi. In 2020, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described the Commission an “Organisation of Particular Concern.”

“During the year, the Indian government escalated its promotion and enforcement of policies — including those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda — that negatively affect Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other religious minorities,” the US report said.

“The government continued to systemize its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through the use of both existing and new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities.”

The report section on India said that the government had “repressed critical voices”, especially minority communities and individuals reporting on them. It mentions the arrest of rights activist Khuran Pervez in Kashmir, and the July 2021 death of octogenarian Father Stan Swamy, arrested in October 2020 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The report touches on challenges faced by Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), especially with regard to foreign funding. It also highlights anti-conversion laws.

“In October 2021, Karnataka’s government ordered a survey of churches and priests in the state and authorized police to conduct a door-to-door inspection to find Hindus who have converted to Christianity,” the report said.

Jaishankar, who was in Washington two weeks ago for the 2+2 U.S.-India defence and foreign ministry dialogue, said that the state of human rights in India had not been raised at the dialogue. At an April 11 joint press conference of officials from both countries, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made the general point that the U.S. remains concerned about human rights violations in India.

(SAM)