US urged to sanction India for ‘significantly worsened’ religious freedom under Modi

For the third straight year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended India be blacklisted alongside China, Russia, Iran and others

It pointed to ‘numerous’ attacks on religious minorities carried out last year as Narendra Modi’s government promoted ‘its ideological vision of a Hindu state’

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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at an event in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. Photo: AP

Published: 9:07am, 26 Apr 2022

Religious freedom has deteriorated “significantly” in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, said a US commission as it again recommended targeted sanctions over abuses.

It was the third straight year that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom asked that India be placed on a list of “countries of particular concern” – a recommendation that has angered New Delhi and is virtually certain to be dismissed by the State Department.

In an annual report released on Monday, the panel – which is appointed to offer recommendations but does not set US policy – voiced wide concern about South Asia and also backed the State Department’s inclusion of Pakistan on the blacklist.

A Muslim man watches from his house in an area that saw communal violence during a Hindu religious procession in New Delhi on Saturday. Photo: AP

In India, the commission pointed to “numerous” attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in 2021 as Modi’s government promoted “its ideological vision of a Hindu state” through policies hostile to minorities.

“Religious freedom conditions in India significantly worsened,” the report said.

It pointed to a “culture of impunity for nationwide campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups” and arrests of journalists and human rights advocates.