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India rejects "deeply biased" US religious freedom report
India maintained that such criticisms should not become a licence for foreign interference.
FILE PHOTO: A boy fills water in a container using a hand pump on a hot summer day during a heatwave in New Delhi, India, June 3, 2024. / REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
New Delhi on June 28 rejected the U.S. State Department's 2023 religious freedom report on India, calling it "deeply biased" and one that does not understand the South Asian nation's social fabric.
The report, released on June 26, noted violent attacks on minority groups, especially Muslims and Christians, including killings, assaults and vandalism of houses of worship.
Criticism of India by the U.S. is usually restrained due to close economic ties and New Delhi's importance for Washington in countering China, political analysts say.
"As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks understanding of India's social fabric and is visibly driven by vote bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook. We, therefore, reject it," the Indian government said.
India said the report challenged the integrity of some decisions made by the country's judiciary and incidents were handpicked to form a pre-conceived narrative. Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The U.S. report listed dozens of incidents, including violence in the northeastern state of Manipur that started in May 2023 and a fatal shooting of a security official and three Muslims on a train near Mumbai. It also cited examples of attacks against Muslims based on allegations that Muslim men were participating in the slaughter of cows or beef trading.
India also said that it had officially taken up cases of hate crimes and racial attacks against its citizens and other minorities in U.S. "In 2023, India has officially taken up numerous cases in the US of hate crimes, racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities, vandalisation and targeting of places of worship, violence and mistreatment by law enforcement authorities, as well as according to political space to advocates of extremism and terrorism abroad. However, such dialogue should not become a license for foreign interference in other polities," the government statement said.
"However, such dialogues should not become a licence for foreign interference in other polities,"it further added..
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