India rejects ‘ill-informed’ US report on minorities
WASHINGTON ACCUSES DELHI OF BIAS AGAINST MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS
INDIA defended its record on religious tolerance last Friday (3) and rebuked the United States for its own rights issues after a report accused Indian officials of supporting attacks on minority worshippers.
Washington’s annual report on religious freedom contained a rare – if indirect – criticism of its emerging ally, documenting incendiary comments by public officials and accounts of discrimination against Muslims and Christians.
Some officials in India are ignoring or even supporting rising attacks on people and places of worship in the country, a US official said late last Thursday (1).
The remarks by Rashad Hussain, who leads the US State Department’s efforts to monitor religious freedom around the world, accompanied the department’s annual report on global religious freedom. It said attacks on members of minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout last year in India. These included cow vigilantism – assaults on non-Hindus for allegedly slaughtering cows or trading in beef.
Some Indian officials were “ignoring or even supporting rising attacks on people and places of worship”, Hussain said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the report showed religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities were under threat around the world.
“For example, in India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, we’ve seen rising attacks on people and places of worship,” Blinken said.
New Delhi’s foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said senior US officials had made “ill-informed” and “biased” comments coinciding with the report’s release. “As a naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights,” Bagchi stated.
“In our discussions with the US, we have regularly highlighted issues of concern there, including racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence.” It is unfortunate that vote bank politics is being practised in international relations,” Bagchi added.
India has routinely denounced the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an autonomous government panel, which has repeatedly recommended India be put on a blacklist.
The State Department is highly unlikely to take action against India, identified by successive US administrations as a key strategic partner in the face of a rising China.