A US commission said that religious freedom has deteriorated “significantly” in India under the Modi-led government.
The US Commission of International Religious Freedom has placed India in the list of “Countries of particular concern” for the third consecutive year and urged the Modi-led Government to place bars on the extremism. India in the past has rejected the report.
The panel voiced wide concern about South Asia and also backed the State Department’s inclusion of Pakistan on the blacklist.
The Commission for International Religious Freedom pointed to numerous attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in the year 2021 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government promoted “its ideological vision of a Hindu state” through policies hostile to minorities. “Religious freedom conditions in India significantly worsened,” the report said.
It also raised concern over the growing impunity and violence by vigilante groups and Hindu mobs. At the same time, the report expressed grave concern over the deteriorating press Freedom and arrest of human rights defenders.
Last year, The Indian government outrightly rejected the report calling it a “biased” report.
The commission has also recommended adding Afghanistan to the blacklist following the victory of the Taliban and relisting Nigeria, which was removed by the Biden administration.
The countries on the State Department’s religious freedom blacklist, which can trigger sanctions, are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.