OPINION: US Report On India’s Religious Freedom Is Absolutely Fallacious

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's latest report on India is absolutely fallacious. It has generalised some isolated incidents in India's huge diverse population of 1.4 billion people. The US administration is highly unlikely to accept it.

It is highly unfortunate that in its latest annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is critical of India's record on one's right to religion. The report says India's 12 State-level anti-conversion laws are inconsistent with international human rights law. These laws prohibit conversions and presume an individual accused of violating an anti-conversion law is guilty. They violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The USCIRF report claims that in 2022, religious freedom conditions continued to worsen in India. Throughout the year, the Indian government, at the national, State and local levels, promoted discriminatory policies that targeted religious conversion and interfaith relationships. The government promoted discriminatory policies on the issues related to the wearing of 'hijab' and cow-slaughter. Such policies negatively impacted Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and Adivasis (indigenous peoples and Scheduled Tribes).

The report says, "The national government also continued to suppress critical voices-particularly religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf-including through surveillance, harassment, demolition of property and detention under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and by targeting non-governmental organisations (NGOs) under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)."

The US Commission report has recommended to its Department of State that it designate India (China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam) as 'Country of Particular Concern' (CPC) for its violations of religious freedom. It has urged the US administration to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for "severe violations" of religious freedom in the country. It has also recommended to the US Congress to raise the issue of India's religious freedom and conduct hearings on it.

Observers say the USCIRF report is absolutely fallacious. It has come to generalise some isolated incidents in India's hugely diverse population of 1.4 billion people. The report refers to the rights violations related to some cow slaughter-related incidents. Therein, it glosses over the cultural and economic significance of cows in India. The report is oblivious of the fact that there is a constitutional ban on cow slaughter. While referring to the incidents of house bulldozing in India, the report ignores the fact that the bulldozed houses have been illegal.

It seems the forces opposed to democracy are being very active in the United States today. They have influenced the USCIRF to depict India negatively in the United States so as not to let the two democracies come together and strengthen their shared values.

However, the observers say, the USCIRF report is highly unlikely to affect adversely US-India relations today. In the post-Cold War landscape, relations between the world's two leading democracies have prospered in almost all areas of diplomacy. India and the United States share more or less the same page on conducting the affairs of the world, including in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Joe Biden administration in Washington DC is highly unlikely to take any action that might damage Washington's ties with New Delhi. It may be clearly understood that the USCIRF is just an independent, bipartisan federal government entity. The US Congress has established it to monitor, analyse and report on religious freedom abroad. The USCIRF may make foreign policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State and the Congress in the country. But its recommendations are not mandatory. The USCIRF has been making similar recommendations to the State Department against India since 2020. But none of them has ever been accepted.

Most importantly, the US administration, the Department of State in particular, today is aware of the pitfalls in the present USCIRF case to declare India a 'CPC'. The core of the White House knows it would be absolutely immoral to bracket India with the nations such as China and Pakistan in the category of the CPC. It knows India is an ever-flourishing democracy with its ancient roots. Since the Republic of India came into existence in 1950, it has adhered to its tradition of a robust public discourse. It has conducted periodic elections to form its governments at the Centre and in the States.

The White House knows well that the successive governments in India have been fully committed to ensure that the fundamental rights, including the one to religion or faith, of all its citizens are intact. Also, India has constitutionally mandated institutions, including its fiercely independent judiciary, that guarantee protection of religious freedom and the rule of law.

Also, the 'other America'-the United States of well-informed citizens, Congressmen and journalists, who influence the country's decision-making process the most-continues to admire the Indian democracy.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.