India rejects US religious freedom report, terms it deeply biased
New Delhi: In a strongly worded response to a US government report on religious freedom, India on Friday described the findings as “deeply biased,” claiming they were influenced by “vote bank” considerations and characterised by imputations and selective use of facts.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the report, asserting that it selectively highlighted incidents to promote a “preconceived narrative” and seemed to question the integrity of legal judgments pronounced by Indian courts.
The US State Department’s 2023 report on religious freedom noted violent attacks on minority communities in India, including killings and assaults, as well as violence in the northeastern state of Manipur.
“As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks understanding of India’s social fabric, and is visibly driven by vote bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook. We, therefore, reject it,” Jaiswal stated. “The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biased sources, and a one-sided projection of issues,” he added.
Jaiswal argued that the report appeared to “challenge” the integrity of certain legal judgments made by Indian courts.
“In some cases, the very validity of laws and regulations are questioned by the report, as are the rights of legislatures to enact them,” he said.
“The report has also targeted regulations that monitor the misuse of financial flows into India. Suggesting that the burden of compliance is unreasonable, it seeks to question the need for such measures,” Jaiswal continued.
He pointed out that the United States has even more stringent laws and regulations and would not prescribe such solutions for itself.
Human rights and respect for diversity have been and remain a legitimate subject of discussion between India and the US, Jaiswal added.
“In 2023, India has officially taken up numerous cases in the US of hate crimes, racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities, vandalism and targeting of places of worship, violence and mistreatment by law enforcement authorities, as well as the according of political space to advocates of extremism and terrorism abroad,” he said.
“However, such dialogues should not become a licence for foreign interference in other polities,” Jaiswal emphasised.
During the report’s release on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted a “concerning increase” in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship of members of minority faith communities in India.
“In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes, and places of worship for members of minority faith communities,” Blinken stated.
