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.
Meanwhile, the agitation against the marriage of Hindu girl N Ashitha with her Muslim friend on April 17 in Mysuru from the Hinduva extremists, have received severe criticism from various quarters.
Comments
RESPECT the REAL MAATHA who want her daughter to be happy.
We have seen bandh for price hike,murder etc...
No imposing bandh for somebody getting married ...
Modi's intolerant group sending wrong message to the world
If Muslim girl go with Hindu boy then there is no problem for RSS or Sangaparivar What a mindset is their ? here government should do their duty (keep the Law & Order) without any partiality then only we can live here peacefully
RSS IS ONLY GOOD FOR THESE TYPE OF WORKS..
BARATH MATHA HOLDING SAFFRON FLAG NOT INDIAN FLAG REAL INDIAN LOVERSSS THESE RSS...
Zameer Mysur.......If the girl is a Muslim, and the boy is Hindu.....then what will be your reaction / comments
Kisiko mirchi laga kya? Burnol moment
Karnataka is still in India right? Are you some kind of a challenged person?
Vote bank politics of BJP will not work here....I am sorry...
best thing for them to do is let those sweet hearts get marry...wish them a good conjugal life....best part of it is these sweet hearts did not run away from their parents....
It is not function of RSS to provide protection to those people, its for the state to do so, in which it has utterly failed. Your argument is like, yeah he might be thief but rather than arresting him why dont you beef up security of your home, that's just absurd. Rather than calling upon reforms in islamic faith you are saying-\fine to a certain extent is true\" this meek response is just like justifying this as a natural state of affairs."
lets say if this so called Love Jihad exists, though you must not call every inter-religious marriages as Love Jihad. Second point is, RSS is saying muslims and other religions use marriages as a tool to increase their numbers, fine at certain extent its true, since at some point the couples are forced to convert to other religions to convince their parents and community, the religious community, but mind it, you can't call it Love Jihad, but it is due to the mind set of other religions, its a fact you have to accept it. But, if RSS is soo great and right then what they must do is to protect the people who do inter-religious marriages without conversion. Will they ever do that ?.... I don't think so, what RSS is trying to do is the opposite, they want to use marriages as a tool to increase the Hindu population. As a Hindu I can never support that, there is nothing great about it !!
Soon the sanghis will take back India to stone age!! What are they upto? Marriage is purely a personal affair between two individuals, no matter what religion or caste they belong to. As long as the two individuals have consented others have no business in coming in their way. All Indians should unite and fight against the atrocities of sanghis against the fundamental rights of every citizen. This kind of hooliganism shall not be tolerated any more.
These acts of \intolerance\" are the result of the one-sided tolerance that incessantly takes place in our society, and which imparity is routinely ignored by the secularists. Hindus marrying Christians or Muslims are invariably required to convert, and/or their children brought up in the non-Hindu faith. In the rare case where a Muslim may convert out of his or her own volition, the end is often bloody and tragic as I can personally vouch from observation. It is invariably the Muslim party's own family that slaughters one or both individuals. And these are not country hicks who don't know better... these are well-educated urbane families that are doyens of the society that they dwell in!"
And Salutes to the genius RSS member who invented the term and the great 'Philosophy' behind it!
In a hypocrite country like ours it feels great to see a Hindu band at a Muslim wedding and a Muslim band at Hindu one secular love.
Girl's dad has no issues but for Chaddis it's LJ, put them out of the society.
It is a constitutional right of the Girl & the Boy. Those who oppose this are actually opposing the constitution, and hence are Anti-Nationals. BJP as a political party should be banned for being anti-constitution.
Put them all behind bar for lifetime, then our country will live in peace.
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