New Delhi: India has slammed the recent recommendation by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to designate it as a “Country of Particular Concern” or CPC.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has called the recommendation biased and motivated.
The US federal government commission also called for targeted sanctions on the external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In response to this MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We have taken note of the latest report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). We categorically reject its motivated and biased characterisation of India. For several years now, USCIRF has persisted in presenting a distorted and selective picture of India, relying on questionable sources and ideological narratives rather than objective facts.”
“Such repeated misrepresentations only undermine the credibility of the Commission itself. Instead of persisting with selective criticism of India, USCIRF would do well to reflect on the disturbing incidents of vandalism and attacks on Hindu temples in the United States, selective targeting of India, and growing intolerance and intimidation of members of the Indian diaspora in the United States, which merit serious attention,” he added, as reported by NDTV.
The recommendations were made by the USCIRF in its 2026 Annual Report, which assesses conditions during 2025. The report urges the US government to designate India as a CPC for allegedly “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations”.
In the report, the commission also recommends targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, including R&AW and the RSS, “for their responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom” through measures such as freezing assets and barring entry into the United States.
The US should also link future US security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom, the USCIRF recommended.
The commission also called on the US Congress to reintroduce and pass the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024, which would require annual reporting on acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States.
The report claimed that religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate in India in 2025 as the government introduced and enforced new legislation targeting religious minority communities and their houses of worship. Several states undertook efforts to introduce or strengthen anti-conversion laws, including harsher prison sentences, the report claimed.
