NEW DELHI: India on Thursday rejected a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), stating that it’s a biased organisation with a political agenda.
"Our views on the USCIRF are well known. It is a biased organisation with a political agenda. It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. We reject this malicious report which only serves to discredit USCIRF further," said the spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal.
India also urged the USCIRF to desist from such agenda driven efforts.
"The USCIRF would also be well advised to utilise its time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the United States,’’ Jaiswal added.
Meanwhile, this furore is based on USCIRF’s 2024 annual report which was released on Wednesday. The report recommended that the US State Department designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” for engaging in “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom”.
The report alleges incidents of violence against Christians and Muslims throughout 2024 and stated that individuals “have been killed, beaten, and lynched by vigilante groups”, religious leaders were “arbitrarily arrested”, and homes and places of worship “have been demolished”.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the US Congress to monitor and report on religious freedom abroad. This is not the first time India has rejected the findings of the commission, and New Delhi has dismissed its findings over the past few years.