Religious tolerance in India has declined “significantly” under Narendra Modi, an American commission has said. This independent commission examines the human rights situation in various countries and reports to the US State Department and recommends imposing financial sanctions on that country.
For three years in a row, the Commission on International Religious Freedom has reported that religious freedom for minorities in India is being undermined. For this, they have also recommended imposing a bunch of financial sanctions on India.
However, in order to maintain good diplomatic relations with India, the Foreign Office has said that it will not resort to any sanctions this time as in the last two years.
In their report, the commission highlighted the high incidence of violence against religious minorities in India, especially Muslims and Christians, in 2021.
“The policy pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government following the ideology of their Hindu state is hostile to minorities,” the report said, adding that “religious freedom in India is declining significantly.”
The commission’s report, which recommended that India be placed on a “sufficiently alarming situation” list, said: “We are deeply concerned by the government’s tendency to turn its back on genocide, human rights abuses and harassment of journalists.”
Welcoming the decision to blacklist, the commission also recommended that Taliban-ruled Afghanistan be included in the list.
According to diplomatic sources, Jayashankar visited the United States two weeks ago. To him, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also expressed concern over the growing number of human rights violations in India.
President Biden is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi at the Quad conference in Tokyo next month. It remains to be seen whether he will mention the report of the commission there.
