An unbiased fee within the United States has, for the fourth year in a row, really useful that India’s authorities, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, be added to a spiritual freedom blacklist, saying that situations within the nation for non secular minorities “continued to worsen” all through 2022.

In its annual report on Monday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) once more referred to as on the US Department of State to designate India as a “country of particular concern”.

The unbiased panel has made appeals for the designation since 2020. The label accuses a authorities of “systematic, ongoing [and] egregious violations” of non secular freedom and opens the door to financial sanctions.

The physique mentioned that the Indian authorities “at the national, state and local levels promoted and enforced religiously discriminatory policies” in 2022. Those included “laws targeting religious conversion, interfaith relationships, the wearing of hijabs and cow slaughter, which negatively impact Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and Adivasis (indigenous peoples and scheduled tribes)”.

The report famous that about 14 p.c of India’s population of 1.4 billion is Muslim, about 2 p.c is Christian, and 1.7 p.c is Sikh. Nearly 80 p.c of the nation is Hindu.

The panel additional asserts that the Indian authorities, led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), “continued to suppress critical voices — particularly religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf”.

IAMC welcomes the @USCIRF‘s resolution to advocate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its extreme violations of human rights and non secular freedoms for the fourth consecutive yr.

CPC is a designation reserved for the world’s worst violators of non secular freedom. pic.twitter.com/tlmxKE7thT

— Indian American Muslim Council (@IAMCouncil) May 1, 2023

The US panel solely provides suggestions and has no means to set coverage. There was little expectation the State Department would undertake the fee’s place, as Washington and New Dehli have continued to strengthen their ties in a bid to counter China’s affect within the Indo-Pacific area.

In its report, the non secular freedom watchdog famous the administration of US President Joe Biden “failed to designate India” as a “country of particular concern” after it made the advice in earlier years.

“The United States and India continued to maintain strong bilateral ties around economic trade and technology. Trade reached $120 billion in 2022, making the United States India’s largest trading partner,” the report mentioned.

“President Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted on multiple occasions, including the G20 and G7 Summits and the Quad Leaders Summit,” it added, the latter referring to the informal grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia.

The Indian authorities didn’t instantly reply to the newest report. Following final yr’s suggestion, New Delhi’s overseas ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi accused senior US officers of creating “ill-informed” and “biased” feedback.

“As a naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights,” Bagchi mentioned in a press release on the time.

For its half, the Indian American Muslim Council mentioned the newest USCIRF report “reaffirms what [the rights group] has been saying for years: that India’s government, under Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] has continued to systematically violate the religious freedom of minority communities, particularly Muslims and Christians”.

More suggestions for blacklist

The report additionally referred to as on the Biden administration so as to add Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam to its blacklist, and for the redesignation of Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The panel first made the advice for Afghanistan final yr, following the Taliban’s takeover of the nation in August 2021. Afghanistan has lengthy been on the fee’s watch checklist, and the Taliban itself had been designated of “particular concern” in a few of the panel’s earliest experiences, from 2000 and 2001.

The fee mentioned the group “violates the freedom of religion or belief of religious minorities; women; members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) community; and Afghans with differing interpretations of Islam”.

In Nigeria, the report targeted on a number of blasphemy convictions in 2022 in addition to mob violence associated to allegations of blasphemy. It famous that the Biden administration didn’t heed the same suggestion made final yr, though Nigeria was briefly designated below the administration of former President Donald Trump.

In Syria, the panel highlighted authorities violence in opposition to the Druze communities amid the nation’s ongoing civil warfare.

In Vietnam, the fee mentioned, “authorities intensified their control and persecution of religious groups”, together with Montagnard and Hmong Protestants, Cao Dai followers, Hoa Hao Buddhists, Unified Buddhists and different non secular teams not registered with the federal government.