Religious freedom weak in India: Report

NEW DELHI:  India has come under scanner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) over allegedly reported violations of religious freedom conditions in 2021.

In its latest annual report for 2022, the USCIRF after making assessing religious freedom violations and progress in 27 countries in 2021 has recommended the US government to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for engaging in and tolerating systematic ongoing and egregious violation of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

The report in its key finding has stated that the religious freedom conditions in India in 2021 significantly worsened. “During the year 2021, the Indian government escalated its promotion and enforcement of policies, including those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda, that negatively affect Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other religious minorities,” the report has stated in its key finding.

It has further stated that the government continued to systemise its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through both existing and new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities.