India Slams 'Biased' US Govt Report on Religious Freedom As 'Votebank Driven'

India on Friday responded to criticism levelled at it in a US government report on religious freedom with unusual vigour. It called the findings "deeply biased," clearly motivated by "votebank" considerations and a combination of imputations and selective use of facts. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the report, claiming it cherry-picked incidents to support a "preconceived narrative" and even seemed to call into question the validity of some court rulings in India. Not only did the US State Department mention violence in the northeastern state of Manipur, but its 2023 report on religious freedom also mentioned violent attacks, including killings and assaults, on minority communities in India.

"As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks understanding of India's social fabric, and is evidently motivated by vote bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook. "We, therefore, reject it," Jaiswal said. "The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biassed sources and a one-sided projection of issues," according to him.

"This includes depicting our constitutional provisions and duly enacted Indian laws. It has also selectively chosen incidents to advance a preconceived narrative," Jaiswal continued. The spokesperson claimed that the report appeared to "challenge" the integrity of certain legal decisions made by Indian courts.

In some cases, the report calls into question the very validity of laws and regulations, as well as legislatures' right to enact them," he said. "The report also focused on regulations that monitor the misuse of financial flows into India. It seeks to call into question the necessity of such measures by implying that the compliance burden is unreasonable," Jaiswal said.

He stated that the United States has even stricter laws and regulations and would certainly not prescribe such solutions for itself. He added that human rights and respect for diversity have been and continue to be legitimate topics of discussion between India and the United States.

In 2023, India has officially taken up a number of cases in the United States involving hate crimes, racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities, vandalism and targeting of places of worship, violence and mistreatment by law enforcement authorities, and the allocation of political space to advocates of extremism and terrorism abroad," he stated.

"However, such dialogues should not become a licence for foreign interference in other polities," Jaiswal suggested.

During the report's release on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that there has been a "concerning increase" in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities in India.

"In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities," Blinken said.