NEW DELHI: Religious freedom continued to decline as attacks and discrimination against minorities increased in India during 2024, stated a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The report mentioned that prior to the national elections in June, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, propagated hateful rhetoric and disinfor-mation against Muslims and other religious minorities to gather political support.
“Such rhetoric fuelled attacks on religious minorities that continued after the election, including vigilan-te violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, and demolition of property and places of worship,” the USCIRF report said.
According to the report, the Indian government also continued to expand its repressive tactics to tar-get religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates.
The USCIRF report also disclosed that international reporting and intelligence from the Canadian gov-ernment corroborated allegations linking an official of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and six diplomats to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York.
“Authorities wielded discriminatory state-level anti-conversion laws and cow slaughter laws to target religious minorities. In June and July, police in Uttar Pradesh detained 20 Christians, including four pas-tors, under accusations of violating the state’s anti-conversion law.”
It is important to note that USCIRF issued its annual list of countries it considers to be the most egre-gious violators of religious liberty.
It urged the new Trump administration to appoint a new ambassador-at-large for international reli-gious freedom.
“The administration of President Donald Trump faces a complex international environment in which to build on its previous success of centering religious freedom as a cornerstone of foreign policy and global leadership,” read the report.
Examples of people who have held to their religious beliefs even amid Islamophobia and other forms of religious hostilities have also been included in the report. –Agencies
