Aakar Patel | Don’t just “reject” USCIRF’s report, refuting allegations of specific points
Every year, the U.S. International Religious Freedom Commission will participate in or tolerate countries that “specially serious” violations of religious freedom, especially ethnic minorities. It calls such countries “countries of particular concern” and requires the U.S. State Department to approve individuals and institutions in those countries.
This year, these are Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
India first appeared on the list in 2020 and has been in it every year since.
In the 2020 report, the USCIRF said: “India experienced a sharp decline in 2019. The National Government used its strengthened parliamentary majority to formulate national-level policies that violate religious freedoms throughout India, especially for Muslims.” It said that the prejudice of the Narendra Modi government against Indian Muslims is being demonstrated through actions by India against citizenship laws, slaughter, Kashmir and conversion. The report notes the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya ruling and the actions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. It advised then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who designated India as a country of particular concern, to “engage and tolerate the system, sustained and violated religious freedoms as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act.” It seeks sanctions against India. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded as follows: “We reject the observations of India in the USCIRF annual report. Its comments on India’s bias and tendencies are not new. However, in this case, its false statements have reached a new level. It cannot put its own commissioner in its work. We regard it as an organization of particular concern and pay attention to it and treat it for this.” ”India did not respond to a single charge or deny any facts.
The reference to “carrying your own commissioner” is about objections to the two commissioners, Gary Bauer and Tenzin Dorjee, who agreed that the situation in the other seven commissioners, namely India is problematic, but does not want to designate it as a CPC.
The second year, in 2021, the report noted that India’s “disinformation and hateful speech (including government officials) are often targeted at religious minorities, with a persistent familiar pattern”.
There is no objection this time, from now on, not every year for four years under President Joe Biden. In 2021, the Indian government did not respond. This has been this pattern since, sometimes India has exploded, while other times it remains silent. In its 2025 report released on March 25, the USCIRF said the Trump administration should “impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities such as Vikash Yadav and Raw, because their culprit is the culprit of freezing their assets and/or banning their access to the United States through serious violations of religious freedom.”
Within hours, our Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the report was “biased, politically motivated” and attempted to “distort isolated incidents and exert disgust against India’s vibrant multicultural society, reflecting a intentional agenda rather than a real focus on religious freedom”. It says: “In fact, USCIRF should be designated as an entity of concern.”
Some hope the Indian government does formally designate the USCIRF and impose sanctions because it does have no bias. The USCIRF calls itself a “bipartisan” institution, which means both Republicans and Democrats represent it and advises the U.S. State Department. But this is partisan in other ways. The USCIRF report does not mention the genocide in the Gaza Strip and the segregation Israeli practices against Palestinians, including Christians, because it is inconvenient for the U.S. government.
It is better for India to respond to specific allegations. But in our world, he says something is more important than what he says. We should respond in particular, especially since it is not necessarily true to say that this is biased or politically motivated. This is the end of the 2021 USCIRF report on India:
“The personal view of Commissioner John Moore”:
“I love India. I have already walked along the Ganges in Varanasi in the early morning, walking every alley in Old Delhi, in awe of the buildings of Agra, drinking tea next to the temple of Dharamsala, hovering in the temple of Dharamsala, hovering around the temple of Ajmer, hovering in Ajmer, but watching the kind brother on the hard brother.
“Among all the countries in the world, India should not be a country of particular concern. It is the largest democracy in the world, it is bound by the original constitution. It is diverse and its religious life has always been its greatest historical blessing.
“However, India does seem to be at a crossroads. Its democracies (still young and free) are creating difficult challenges through the ballot box, which is the challenge for India. Of course, the answer is to let Indian institutions draw on its long history to protect its values. India must always resist conflicts between politics and citizens in order to cause it to suffer from the damage of religious governments and protect everything. Everyone can.”
The author is the President of Amnesty International in India. Twitter: @aakar_patel
