In view of its past record, India is not surprised at USCIRF’s biased and inaccurate observations about the country, the MEA said

India has slammed the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, stating that the Congressional appointed body is pursuing a motivated and biased agenda against the country.

“We have seen the biased and inaccurate observations about India by the USCIRF. This is their tendency to constantly misrepresent facts and the lack of understanding of India and its constitutional framework and our plurality and strong democratic system,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly media briefing on November 24.

The USCIRF report maintains that religious freedom and related human rights in India are under threat. Providing a broad overview of religious freedom conditions in India in 2021 and 2022, the US body states how various policies adopted and implemented by the Indian government have cultivated an environment that is increasingly hostile toward religious minority communities.

“This trajectory, alongside an escalating government crackdown on civil society and dissent, is deeply alarming in a diverse, secular, and democratic country whose constitution is intended to protect religious freedom,” reads the USCIRF report.

“Given its past record, we are not surprised to see that USCIRF continues to be guided by its prejudices and pursues a motivated agenda that calls into question its own credibility,” the MEA Spokesperson said.

Earlier, in its 2022 Annual Report, the USCIRF recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a “country of particular concern” for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing religious freedom violations, as set forth by the International Religious Freedom Act.

The US State Department has refused to incorporate the USCIRF’s recommendations.