US religious freedom panel recommends sanctions against RAW

WASHINGTON: A US panel on religious freedom said on Wednesday the treatment of minorities in India is deteriorating and it recommended sanctions be imposed on India’s external spy agency over its alleged involvement in plots to assassinate Sikh separatists.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom also said in its annual report that communist-ruled Vietnam had stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended Vietnam be designated a “country of particular concern”.

“In 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise,” the commission said in the report released on Wednesday.

Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign, it said. India dismissed the report on Wednesday, calling it part of a pattern of “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,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

US State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom have noted minority abuses in recent years. New Delhi calls them “deeply biased”.

The panel recommended the US government designate India as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom violations and impose targeted sanctions against Yadav and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service.