New Delhi: Days after United States’ secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke of “concerning rise in anti-conversion laws, demolitions, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities“, India on Friday, June 28, hit back, accusing the US of “votebank considerations” in international relations.
Blinken’s remarks were made on Wednesday, June 26, while releasing the State Department’s annual report on the status of international religious freedom.
Coming down heavily on Blinken and the report, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks understanding of India’s social fabric and is visibly driven by votebank considerations and a prescriptive outlook. We therefore reject it.”
The annual report is compiled by the US State Department, based on inputs from their embassies located around the world. While all countries are documented inside the report, only the most egregious countries – or those with antagonistic political ties with Washington – are mentioned by the US secretary of state in his introductory remarks at the yearly release functions.
The MEA spokesperson called the report a “one-sided projection of issues”. “The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biased sources and a one-sided projection of issues,” he said, adding that the report “has selectively picked incidents to advance a preconceived narrative as well”.
The response from MEA also accused the report of challenging the “integrity of certain legal judgments given by Indian courts. The report has also targeted regulations that monitor misuse of financial flows into India suggesting that the burden of compliance is unreasonable”.
The 2023 report about the status of religious freedom in India mentions several instances that took place in 2023, including the murders of Mohammad Junaid and Mohammad Nasir by alleged cow vigilantes and the continued incarceration of Umar Khalid.
“The Supreme Court took no action on the bail plea of Muslim student Umar Khalid, who was arrested and imprisoned following the riots, despite saying in September that the court would review his case. A New Delhi sessions court heard arguments concerning the bail applications of other accused protest organizers, but did not render verdicts,” says the report.
The report has documented attacks on the Christian community in India, an issue that was raised by Blinken during his address while releasing the report.
“In December, the United Christian Forum (UCF) reported 731 attacks on Christians in the year, compared with 599 such incidents in 2022. The UCF data by state showed the most incidents in Uttar Pradesh (301) and Chhattisgarh (152),” says the 2023 report.
The report further highlighted the arrest of minority community members under laws banning forced religious conversions.
“Christians and Muslims were arrested under laws banning forced religious conversions, which religious groups said in some cases were used to harass and imprison members of religious minority groups on false and fabricated charges or for lawful religious practices. In some cases, Christian groups said local police aided mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion activities or stood by while mobs attacked Christians and then arrested the victims on conversion charges,” says the report.
