Washington, Apr 29: A US government panel on Tuesday called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a "drastic" downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally.
In an annual report, the bipartisan panel narrowly agreed that India should join the ranks of "countries of particular concern" that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.
"In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault," the report said.
It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials believed responsible and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.
The commission said that Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which won a convincing election victory last year, "allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence."
It pointed to comments by Home Minister Amit Shah, who notoriously referred to mostly Muslim migrants as "termites," and to a citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests.
It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir, which was India's only Muslim-majority state, and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.
Coronavirus state-wise India update: Total number of confirmed cases, deaths on April 29
The Indian government, long irritated by the commission's comments, quickly rejected the report.
"Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels," foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.
"We regard it as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly," he said in a statement.
The State Department designates nine "countries of particular concern" on religious freedom -- China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The commission asked that all nine countries remain on the list. In addition to India, it sought the inclusion of four more -- Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.
Pakistan, India's historic rival, was added by the State Department in 2018 after years of appeals by the commission.
In its latest report, the commission said that Pakistan "continued to trend negatively," voicing alarm at forced conversions of Hindus and other minorities, abuse of blasphemy prosecutions and a ban on the Ahmadi sect calling itself Muslim.
India's citizenship law fast-tracks naturalization for minorities from neighbouring countries -- but not if they are Muslim.
Modi's government says it is not targeting Muslims but rather providing refuge to persecuted people and should be commended.
But critics consider it a watershed move by Modi to define the world's largest democracy as a Hindu nation and chip away at independent India's founding principle of secularism.
Tony Perkins, the commission's chair, called the law a "tipping point" and voiced concern about a registry in the northeastern state of Assam, under which 1.9 million people failed to produce documentation to prove that they were Indian citizens before 1971 when mostly Muslim migrants flowed in during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence.
"The intentions of the national leaders are to bring this about throughout the entire country," Perkins told an online news conference.
"You could potentially have 100 million people, mostly Muslims, left stateless because of their religion. That would be, obviously, an international issue," said Perkins, a Christian activist known for his opposition to gay rights who is close to President Donald Trump's administration.
Three of the nine commissioners dissented -- including another prominent Christian conservative, Gary Bauer, who voiced alarm about India's direction but said the ally could not be likened to non-democracies such as China.
"I am deeply concerned that this public denunciation risks exactly the opposite outcome than the one we all desire," Bauer said.
Trump, who called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US when he ran for president, hailed Modi on a February visit to New Delhi.
It is said that three miscreants - Shamshuddin of Srirangapatna, Jamiulla of Mysuru and Danash of Uttar Pradesh – were seen disfiguring the carvings of Ganesha and Hanuman on the wall of the fort near the obelisk memorial here on Saturday evening. The public, who noticed the same caught the trio, thrashed them and handed them over to the police. But the police released the trio within an hour, which irked the members of Hindu outfits, who said that the police had neglected the issue.
Comments
I'm writing about my personal opinion.
Hinduism is far too old a religion,
For any religion one must have noticed that slowly and slowly ppl leave the burdens of right and wrong.
From my point of view there is nothing dissimilar in-between both.
( just Islam doesn't allow murti puja) is the basic difference.
So ppl following Islam doesn't even know how their prophet looked.
Y
Islam is a newer religion, almost the recent amongst others( Hinduism, Christianity, Zodaism)
What Muslims believe is that the ppl following earlier religions started worshiping God's messengers and not actually the Almighty.
Ex: Jesus christ, the messenger of God, ( or say the son of God) is being worshiped.
The vedas says,
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, ....... (nirakar, sarvshaktiman, dayalu, ajanma, anant, .........)
So as wat the quran says..
But since Islam is the newest, ppl following Islam are more strict to their lessons..
I don't find differences in between both,,
After sometime, all will be the same..
Sorry for the grammatical errors .
Worship of any form of statues, murtis, pictures is sin in islam and there is no pardon for that. It is the highest form of sin in Islam, Allah tells he can forgive everything except shirk. So when your non-muslim husband/wife is doing shirk in front of Ram or Krishna, it is obligation of muslim spouse to stop him/her from doing this, else you will be part of shirk, now if you stop them from doing puja to their pictures of god,statues, then there will no equality.
Hurting sentiment of any community feelings are condemnable. Immediately arrest them and maximum punishment should give to them,
Surely Idols cannot do anything.. and YOu guys are asking with the idols ... use your sense and ponder on the below verse...
NA TASYA PRATIMA ASTI... there is no image of GOD... Then what are U worshiping...
Worship the CREATOR not his CREATION.
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