US govt agency recommends blacklisting India

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged the White House to designate India as a “country of particular concern,” and impose targeted sanctions on RAW, India’s external spy service, for gross violations of religious minority rights.

The Indian government, run by Hindu nationalist BJP party, has been engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, says the USCIRF report released late Tuesday.

In the run up to the general elections in June 2024, the ruling party used hateful rhetoric as well as disinformation against Muslims and other minorities to gather votes from the Hindu majority. 

The malpractice fueled vigilante and arbitrary communal attacks both before and after the elections.
Upon election, the BJP-run government exploited laws to also target human rights activists, civil society members and journalists, many a times for speaking on behalf of the religious minorities.

Numerous building authorities, including the Delhi Development Authority, took steps for the demolition and seizure of minority assets. The Ram Temple was built a razed mosque, and consecration of the temple was followed by a series of minority attacks, the report notes.

BJP-run federal government and its provincial allies also arbitrarily passed anti-conversion laws.
RAW agents engaged in targeted attacks on religious minorities, particularly Sikhs, in foreign lands. One US citizen was assassinated in New York in 2023, allegedly during a RAW operation.