The United States and world has started being sensitized about the on the ground plight of minorities in India due to Indian government’s promotion of Hindu nationalist agenda. In its annual report to the Congress on international religious freedom, the US State Department says that 2021 was a year of attacks on the minority communities in India, especially Muslims. The report, delivered at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, said that the violations in India include killings, assaults, and intimidation. Attacks included incidents of ‘cow vigilantism’ against non-Hindus based on allegations of cow slaughter or trade of beef. The report also noted the comments of the chief of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat. […] he publicly stated that Hindus and Muslims in India had the same DNA and should not be differentiated by religion. Bhagwat had also said that Hinduism did not allow the killing of non-Hindus. The report mentioned the arrest of non-Hindus for issuing comments that were perceived to be offensive to Hindus and Hinduism. Police arrested non-Hindus for making comments in the media or on social media that were considered offensive to Hindus or Hinduism. International NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said that the Indian government adopted policies that discriminated against Muslims. It added that police did not take action against BJP supporters who were violent towards Muslims. India Express reported that India had previously rejected the US claims saying that it will not allow a foreign government to establish facts about its citizens’ constitutionally protected rights.
Now as a step forward, US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has submitted a resolution in the House of Representatives where she has condemned the human rights abuses in India and called for the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate India as a country of particular concern. The resolution appeared on Thursday on the congress website. It based its arguments on a report published recently by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The resolution referred to the USCIRF’s 2022 annual report stating that “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 resolution quoted the report as saying that the the government (of India) continued to systemise its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through the use of both existing and new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities. The report pointed to the cases of the government’s repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism in India. The resolution also highlighted the severe risks of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens for Indian Muslims, including the possibility of rendering millions stateless or subject to indefinite detention. It quoted the report’s mentions of the attacks made on the religious minorities, especially Muslims and Christians. Many of these incidents were violent, unprovoked, and/or encouraged or incited by government officials. Mentioning a press conference during which Blinken had called India the world’s largest democracy, the resolution added that he had said: We have seen rising attacks on people and places of worship.
We are concerned with targeting of a number of religious communities in India, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu Dalits, and indigenous communities as well, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain had said at the same conference.
