In its 2025 annual report, the USCIRF alleged that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise.
India has strongly rejected the claims put forward by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its latest report and called it biased and politically motivated". External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal who spoke on the matter, stated that the report is an attempt to cast aspersions on the country's vibrant multicultural society and it reflect a "deliberate" agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom.
In its 2025 annual report, the USCIRF alleged that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise.
This is not the first time India has strongly reacted to the USCIRF report, earlier in October 2024, New Delhi called their report 'malicious' and accused it of misrepresenting facts and peddling a motivated narrative about India.
In its recommendation, the USCIRF has called for designating India as a "country of particular concern" or CPC, for engaging in and "tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)".
According to reports, they also mentioned that attacks and discrimination against religious minorities which is continuing to rise in India as they gave the context of 2024 Lok Sabha campaigns while reportedly accusing the BJP of propagating "hateful rhetoric" against Muslims and other religious minorities during the election campaigns.
The USCIRF also recommended to the US government to impose "targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States".
The US has charged Yadav, a former Indian government official, in the alleged foiled plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil in 2023.
In the report, the American entity also recommended to the US government to conduct a "review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations".
Authorities in India continued to exploit anti-terror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom, it reportedly claimed, said PTI.
In its reaction, New Delhi described the report as "biased and politically motivated" and said the efforts to "undermine" India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed, adding the USCIRF should be designated as an "entity of concern".
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report once again continued its pattern of issuing "biased and politically motivated assessments."
"The USCIRF's persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India's vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom," he said.
"India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India's pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities," he added.
Jaiswal was responding to media queries on the USCIRF report.
"Such efforts to undermine India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern," he said.
India in October 2024, trashed a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and described it as a "biased" organisation with a "political agenda".
In its report, the USCIRF had criticised India for alleged violations of religious freedom.
It had also recommended to the US state department to declare India a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) in the context of religious freedom.
In a strong reaction, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the USCIRF should utilise its time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the United States.
"Our views on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are well known. It is a biased organisation with a political agenda," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. We reject this malicious report, which only serves to discredit USCIRF further," he said.