India slammed the US State Department’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, terming it “flawed”, “motivated”, and “biased”. The report documents the status of religious freedom in countries across the world. The report criticized the country for alleged attacks on minorities. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said such reports continue to be based on “misinformation and flawed understanding”. It mentions BJP around 28 times while detailing the alleged hate crimes and statements made by party leaders against minorities. The annual report listed alleged attacks on religious minorities in India and expressed concerns over such incidents.
Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large, Office of International Religious Freedom, said at a press conference that “far too many governments, including Russia, India, China, and Saudi Arabia, continue to freely target faith community members within their borders”.
In fact, the report on India has been rather tough on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been referred to around 28 times. In the report, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) was mentioned 24 times, and the Bajrang Dal seven times.
It also documented the alleged hate speeches and instigating or divisive statements made by BJP leaders across the country.
“BJP state politician Haribhushan Thakur Bachaul said that Muslims should be set ablaze; PC George, a former legislator in Kerala, encouraged Hindus and Christians to not eat at restaurants run by Muslims; and former BJP Rajasthan state legislator Gyan Dev Ahuja encouraged Hindus to kill Muslims suspected of cow slaughter,” the report stated.
“In June, several parts of the country reported violent protests and acts of arson after spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the country’s ruling BJP made televised remarks about the Prophet Muhammad which were widely seen as offensive by Muslims,” it said.
The report also mentioned Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s public meeting in Hyderabad, where he promised to end employment and educational quotas for religious minorities in Telangana if the BJP was voted to power in the state Assembly polls due in late 2023.
Even as the Central government questioned the report’s credibility, names of people like Mohammad Zubair, Bilkis Bano, and Umar Khalid, among others, also figured in the report. The report detailed all cases of alleged hate crimes against people from all communities, and not just minorities.
“On June 27, police arrested journalist Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, for a tweet he posted in 2018 that police said ‘deliberately insulted Hindus’,” the report said. “On August 15, the 11 men convicted of raping Muslim woman Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 members of her family in 2002 were set free in Gujarat after serving 15 years in prison,” it added.
The Congressional-mandatory annual ‘Report on International Religious Freedom’ was released by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, which documents the status of religious freedom in countries across the world.
(With inputs from agencies)
