FIIDS urges US State Dept to reject USCIRF report / Image- Official website/FIIDS, USCIRF

A prominent Indian diaspora think-tank, the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), has strongly criticized the recent annual report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), urging the US State Department to reject its recommendations.

In the concerned report, USCIRF, the US government’s global religious freedom watchdog, has recommended that the State Department designate India as Country of Particular Concern (CPCs) because of its engagement in, or toleration of “particularly severe” religious freedom violations.

FIIDS has characterized the USCIRF report as biased and flawed, accusing it of presenting partial data and drawing erroneous conclusions.

Khanderao Kand, chief of Policy and Strategy at FIIDS, emphasized that the USCIRF report is based on "omission and commission of facts, utilising partial data, hiding the full context, generalising isolated incidents, and questioning the implementation of the law of the land."

Kand argued that the report unfairly labels India, the world's largest democracy with a population of 1.4 billion, without acknowledging recent positive trends amidst a complex historical backdrop.

FIIDS criticized USCIRF's recommendation to designate India as a "Country of Particular Concern (CPC)" and questioned the report's stance on evaluating India under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), particularly given India's own challenges with terrorism.

The think-tank's detailed analysis of the USCIRF report highlighted discrepancies in the treatment of incidents, such as the Manipur riots being portrayed as inter-tribal but unfairly singled out against Christians. Mohan Sonti, an analyst at FIIDS, pointed out that the USCIRF report failed to recognize India's constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and criticized the enforcement of laws aimed at preventing coercive and fraudulent conversions.

Furthermore, FIIDS raised concerns about the USCIRF's depiction of India's social landscape in 2023, noting that while there were no major Hindu-Muslim riots, the report highlighted isolated incidents without acknowledging the peaceful coexistence of India's diverse religious communities.

In light of these observations, FIIDS urged the US Department of State to carefully evaluate and reject the USCIRF's recommendations, emphasizing the importance of maintaining strong US-India relations. It highlighted the significance of India as the third-largest economy and a key ally of the United States, implying that the USCIRF's findings could potentially undermine this vital relationship.