'Biased and agenda-driven': India dismisses USCIRF report on religious freedom

The Ministry of External Affairs has rubbished the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's (USCIRF) report on religious freedom in India, terming it "malicious," which discredits the organisation further. It further called USCIRF a "biassed organisation" with a political agenda, which continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a "motivated narrative" about India. "Our views on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are well known.

It is a biased organization with a political agenda. It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. We reject this malicious report, which only serves to discredit USCIRF further," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Thursday . The MEA also urged USCIRF to desist from such "agenda driven efforts" and utilise time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the US. "We would urge USCIRF to desist from such agenda driven efforts.

The USCIRF would also be well advised to utilise its time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the United States," the statement added. The USCIRF, in its report, alleged violations of religious freedom in India. "This report highlights how throughout 2024, individuals have been killed, beaten, and lynched by vigilante groups, religious leaders have been arbitrarily arrested, and homes and places of worship have been demolished. These events constitute particularly severe violations of religious freedom," the report stated.

"It describes the use of misinformation and disinformation, including hate speech, by government officials to incite violent attacks against religious minorities and their places of worship. It further describes changes to and enforcement of India's legal framework to target and disenfranchise religious minorities, including the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and several state-level anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws," the USCIRF report said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)