The 2019 report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has indicted India for its handling of religious freedom in 2018, which year also witnessed the third time that the high-profile team of this independent bipartisan US body that advises US government on religious freedom issues in all countries of the world, was denied visas by India.

Very fond of meddling in affairs of other countries, India was on the back-foot when the 20-year old bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its extensive report on Religious Freedom in India in 2018 stated that “religious freedom conditions in India continued a downward trend.”

The Commission observed that, “despite two decades of tireless work to bring an end to religious-based discrimination, violence, and persecution, innumerable believers and nonbelievers across the globe continued in 2018 to experience manifold suffering due to their beliefs.”

In the 2019 Report, India is on the USCIRF Tier 2 list of countries for engaging in or tolerating religious freedom violations that are either “systematic, ongoing, egregious.”  India stands bracketed as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the US International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The new Commissioner Aniruma Bhargava has emphasized that India has placed an iron curtain for USCIRF and hoped that it will allow the body to visit India. USCIRF delegates have been refused permission to visit India in 2001, 2019, 2016 and now in 2018.

Countries Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Sudan, Thailand and even Saudi Arabia allowed visit by USCIRF in 2018, but India held out and debarred them.  Consistently, for many years now, India has been denying this opportunity to USCIRF and other human rights bodies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  Nevertheless, the Commission, in its report hoped that they will get an opportunity to openly and candidly engage with the government to discuss shared values and interests, including international standards of freedom of religion or belief and related human rights.

USCIRF delegates have been refused permission to visit India in 2001, 2019, 2016 and now in 2018.

The report adds, “Further, cow protection mobs engaged in violence predominantly targeting Muslims and Dalits, some of whom have been legally involved in the dairy, leather, or beef trades for generations.”

In 2019, USCIRF has classified these 12 countries as Tier 2 countries as Countries of Particular concern: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Turkey. In its 13 page report on India, the USCIRF observes that, “Over the last decade, conditions for religious minorities in India have deteriorated. A multifaceted campaign by Hindu nationalist groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang (RSS), Sangh Parivar, and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) to alienate non-Hindus or lower-caste Hindus is a significant contributor to the rise of religious violence and persecution. Those targeted by this campaign—including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and lower-caste Hindus—face challenges ranging from acts of violence or intimidation, to the loss of political power, increasing feelings of disenfranchisement, and limits on access to education, housing, and employment.”

Noting that even the Supreme Court of India has taken notice of the deteriorating conditions for religious freedom in some Indian states, the reports says that, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi seldom made statements decrying mob violence, and certain members of his political party have affiliations with Hindu extremist groups and used inflammatory language about religious minorities publicly.”

In the 2019 Report, India is on the USCIRF Tier 2 list of countries for engaging in or tolerating religious freedom violations that are either “systematic, ongoing, egregious.”  India stands bracketed as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the US International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

“In 2018, religious minorities remained concerned with their safety and security. Independent hate crime monitoring services reported that in 2018 there were more than 90 religious-based hate crimes, causing 30 deaths and far more injuries.”

The bipartisan US commission noted that various nationalist groups in India have expanded the ideology of Hindutva, or “Hinduness,” which has three pillars—common nation, race, and culture—and forms the basis of an oftentimes exclusionary national narrative with a singular focus on the rights of Hindus.

The report further clarified that, “While some Hindutva groups want greater influence of Hindu principles in the state’s decision-making process, more extreme elements have stated they would like to see all non-Hindus expelled, killed, or converted to Hinduism. Some members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have affiliations with Hindu extremist groups and have used discriminatory language about religious minorities. For example, in 2018, state-level BJP member T. Raja Singh was charged by the police for hate speech after stating that “every Hindu should carry weapons like lathis [clubs] and attack other communities’ members if they said anything wrong.”

The report also notes that in 2018 alone, cow protection lynch mobs killed at least 13 people and injured 57 in 31 incidents.

The report also notes that in 2018 alone, cow protection lynch mobs killed at least 13 people and injured 57 in 31 incidents. Hate crimes and incitement to violence directed at religious minority communities remained a prevalent threat in 2018 with instances of communal violence against Muslims and Christians.

The inefficiency, partisan and overtly discriminatory working of the National Register of Citizens in Assam has come under heavy criticism in the report.

The USCIRF’s annual reports—and USCIRF’s mandate more broadly—are different from, and complementary to, the State Department’s Annual Reports on International Religious Freedom. The USCIRF reports are quite impactful and it was at their recommendation that Narendra Modi, when Chief Minister of Gujarat was declared persona non grata and denied visa to visit the USA.

India, which is very fond of seeking international intervention on issues that matter to the country, very craftily ensures that there is no international intervention when international bodies question the record of India –be it a matter of religious rights or civil and political rights or human rights.

Surprisingly, the USCIRF made no mention of blasphemy and other instances of religious sacrilege against the Sikhs in the state of Punjab and neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana at the behest of state-sponsored, patronised and protected pseudo-saints and their followers and murders of peaceful Sikh protestors by the Punjab police. This speaks of USCIRF lack of interest in the Punjab and the inability of the Sikhs in Punjab and the Diaspora to present their case to the USCIRF.

While the contents of the USCIRF report describe the religious freedom situation in India in a fair manner, but the bias in favour of conversion is apparent where the report says, “The fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief includes the right to change one’s faith to another or to no faith at all. This right includes the ability to manifest one’s beliefs through expression intended to persuade another individual to change his or her religious beliefs or affiliation voluntarily.

On the highly sensitive issue of proselytization and conversion, World Sikh News will separately present an analysis of the 2018 report of USCIRF which was Limitations of Minorities’ Religious Freedom in South Asia, which has a commentary on India’s anti-conversion laws.

Surprisingly, the USCIRF made no mention of blasphemy and other instances of religious sacrilege against the Sikhs in the state of Punjab and neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana at the behest of state-sponsored, patronised and protected pseudo-saints and their followers and murders of peaceful Sikh protestors by the Punjab police. This speaks of USCIRF lack of interest in the Punjab and the inability of the Sikhs in Punjab and the Diaspora to present their case to the USCIRF.

The Commission has boldly admitted that in the in the course of bilateral relations between India and the United States, “Though the economic and security concerns and issues have been emphasised in ties between the two countries, “Human rights and religious freedom, however, have not been emphasized.”

It is ironical that the chair of the Commission, Tenzin Dorjee -a former Tibetan Refugee in India and now a Tibetan American has taken a clear pro-India standby advancing the same logic that India does and has dissented from the observation that the condition of religious freedom has worsened in 2018. He sings the same tune of India being a land of peace and how it has given refuge to the Tibetans and how there is brotherhood among communities. It is surprising that he has distanced from the stark realities that unfolded in 2018.

The USCIRF has recommended that it proposes to strengthen the training and capacity of state and central police to prevent and punish cases of religious violence, while also protecting victims, witnesses, and houses of worship and other holy sites. This sounds very good and this kind of advocacy has hardly happened in India, but how does USCIRF or its embassy in India propose to do this will remain a matter of interest.

“Though the economic and security concerns and issues have been emphasised in ties between the two countries, “Human rights and religious freedom, however, have not been emphasized.”

The USCIRF has encouraged the passages of the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2018 to establish national and state human rights commissions and human rights courts. India does have toothless human rights commissions and it would a long wait till we can get human rights courts.

In a significant focus, the USCIRF has sought more intervention by the US embassy in areas of religious and human rights violations and more interaction with respective community leaders. The earlier this happens, the better for increasing awareness and instilling some fear of international opprobrium amongst the lower and high ranks of the leadership in India.

Not very long ago, India was verge of classification in the category of Watch List countries by the USCIRF. The next five years will be crucial to see if India goes into that pit, as all indicators are that it is fully likely to tread into that.