WASHINGTON: A US government panel, the Commission on International Religious Freedom, has once again called for India to be blacklisted over its treatment of minorities, saying that the situation has continued to worsen under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The independent commission recommended that the State Department add several countries to its list, including India, Nigeria, and Vietnam.
The annual report pointed to violence and destruction of property targeting Muslims and Christians in India and drew links to social media posts and comments by members of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP.
“The continued enforcement of discriminatory and bias laws facilitated a culture of impunity for campaigns of violence and threats by mobs and vigilante groups,” it said.
US panel’s consecutive recommendations on India
This is the fourth straight year that the panel has made this recommendation on India, angering New Delhi, which has called the commission biased.
The State Department lists countries each year where it sees particular concern on religious freedom, with the prospect of sanctions without improvement. The commission supported all of the State Department’s latest designations which included China, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
The US and India have been growing partners, but there is little expectation that the State Department will accept the panel’s stance on India.
However, the commission also recommended that the State Department add a number of US partners to a watch list of countries that risk being blacklisted without improvements, including Egypt, Indonesia, and Turkey.
The State Department briefly blacklisted Nigeria at the end of former President Donald Trump’s administration following calls from evangelical Christians, but President Joe Biden’s administration removed it, rejecting suggestions of violence in Africa’s most populous country being religious-based or abetted by the government.
The recommendations made by the Commission on International Religious Freedom do not set policy, but they add to concerns over religious freedom in several countries around the world.
