India junks US report on religious freedom

JALANDHAR/ DELHI: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has said in its 2016 annual report that "India is on a negative trajectory in terms of religious freedom”.
This has rekindled an old feud between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the independent, bipartisan federal government commission. It was after the USCIRF’s report on the 2002 post-Godhra riots that a US visa was denied to Modi during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister.
The commission wanted to visit India earlier this year, but was denied visas.
In a sharply worded rebuttal, India has refused to take cognizance of the USCIRF report saying that the foreign entity had no locus standi to pronounce judgment on the state of constitutionally protected rights of Indian citizens.
“Our attention has been drawn to the recent report, which once again fails to show proper understanding of India, its Constitution and its society,” said a spokesperson of ministry of external affairs.
“India is a vibrant pluralistic society founded on strong democratic principles. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including the right to freedom of religion. We take no cognizance of their report,” he added.
“In 2015, religious tolerance deteriorated and religious freedom violations increased in India. Minority communities, especially Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, experienced numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence, largely at the hands of Hindu nationalist groups. Members of the ruling BJP tacitly supported these groups and used religiously-divisive language to further inflame tensions,” the US report says.
The latest report accuses BJP of tacitly supporting groups using religiously divisive language and inflaming tensions. It also mentioned that in 2015, “higher caste” individuals and local political leaders prevented dalits from entering temples.
The report’s key findings state: “USCIRF will continue to monitor the situation closely during the year ahead to determine if India should be recommended to the US state department for designation as a “country of particular concern”, or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act for systematic, on-going, egregious violations of religious freedom. Based on these concerns, USCIRF again places India on Tier 2, where it has been since 2009.”
The report has also mentioned Mohammad Akhlaq’s lynching by a mob in Dadri. “According to members of the Muslim community, members of the BJP and the RSS over the past two years have used alleged violations of beef ban laws to inflame Hindus to violently attack Indian Muslims,” it reads, while specifically mentioning names of Sakshi Maharaj and Yogi Adityanath.