During the last month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released an annual report in which it highlighted the deterioration of religious rights of minorities in India by the government and called for strict actions against the country in general and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in specific.
The report emphasized on the role of Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who have “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities to gather political support.” Furthermore, it denounced the legislative bills and amendments, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Anti-conversion laws, that have undermined and marginalized religious minorities in India.
The report also criticized the Indian intelligence agency RAW for its assassination plot against Sikh Activist residing in the United States (US). The USCIRF recommended the US government to designate India as a “country of particular concern” and “impose targeted sanction” on RAW and individuals associated to the organization for violating the religious freedom.
India hosts millions of people belonging to different religious minorities, primarily Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists. However, the dominant Hindu government has always remained hostile towards the religious minorities by overlooking their rights and suppressing them in certain cases.
In 1992, a charged “Hindu Nationalist Mob” tore down the “Babri Masjid” in Ayodhya. This incident involved the support of many BJP leaders who were motivated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology. Despite, being disputed by many archeologists on whether the site belonged to a Hindu Temple previously, the Indian Supreme Court ruled to designate the place for the construction of a Hindu temple.
Similarly, in 2008 a Hindu mob attacked the Christians of Orissa’s Kandhamal district. This violent incident resulted in the burning of 296 churches and 5600 homes of the Christian population. Furthermore, estimated 100 Christians were killed while nearly 56,000 were displaced. The government launched an investigation into the matter. However, due to poor forensic equipment, untrained staff, and porous judicial system the victims have not received justice. In 169 cases all the trialed people have been acquitted while 86 cases resulted in no convictions.
In recent years the Indian government has imposed “Anti-Conversion Law” in 28 states. For instance, the Haryana’s Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2022 forbids conversion by marriage or for marriage. However, the provisions set by the law are significantly in contradiction to the International Human Rights Law (IHRL), which provides every person the right to change their religion. The article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) does “not permit any limitations whatsoever…on the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice.” However, the limitation set by the government on changing religion by choice has put India under severe scrutiny due to the violation of IHRL.
The Indian intelligence agency RAW has been in highlights for years due to their involvement in extra-territorial killings. In 2023, the assassination of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist, led to deterioration of diplomatic relations between India and Canada. The Canadian government accused an India envoy as the “person of interest in the case” and expelled him and five other diplomats. Similarly, an Indian former intelligence official Vikas Yadav was alleged to be involved in the assassination plot of a Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US. Though India has denied involvement in any of the cases, evidence highlight the significant role of RAW’s involvement in both this cases, which has spared criticism on India and RAW for violating state sovereignty and conspiring against separatist leaders.
The USCIRF’s report on religious freedom violation in India and the role of RAW in hostile acts shows the ruthless course of action adopted by the so called secular Indian state. Time will tell whether the proposed targeted sanctions by the US will compel India to reduce its atrocities against the religious minorities through both kinetic and non-kinetic means.
