New Delhi: India has slammed the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for suggesting that minorities were facing deteriorating treatment in the country.
Calling it “biased and politically motivated”, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) dismissed the report and said that the US panel should be designated as an “entity of concern.”
“We have seen the recently released 2025 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments. The USCIRF’s persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India’s vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“The USCIRF’s persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India’s vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom… Such efforts to undermine India’s standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern,” the MEA said.
The USCIRF mentioned in its report that attacks and discrimination against religious minorities are rising in India, and accused the BJP of propagating ‘hateful rhetoric’ against Muslims and other religious minorities during last year’s Lok Sabha election campaign.
The USCIRF also recommended sanctions against Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for its alleged involvement in murder plots against Sikh separatists, most likely referring to the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun case.
The US panel wanted the Donald Trump administration to designate India as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom violations.
Last year, the US charged former RAW agent Vikash Yadav in connection with a foiled plot to murder Khalistani terrorist Pannun on American soil. Even as India denied that charge, the Khalistani issue has remained a thorny in New Delhi’s ties with the US and Canada.
