(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) India strongly criticized the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Thursday for its attempt to interfere in its electoral process and its ongoing propagation against the nation under the guise of an annual report.
In an unusually direct response to the USCIRF's recent report, which criticized India for purported violations of religious freedom, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal emphasized that the organization is widely recognized as a biased entity with a clear political agenda.
"The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is known as a biased organization with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report," Jaiswal said.
"We really have no expectation that the USCIRF will even seek to understand India's diverse, pluralistic and democratic ethos," he added.
"Their efforts to interfere in the largest electoral exercise of the world will never succeed," Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.
In its latest annual report, the USCIRF criticized India for purported violations of religious freedom. It reiterated its recommendation to the US State Department to designate India as a "Country of Particular Concern (CPC)" due to these alleged violations.
The report asserts that religious freedom in India is deteriorating, attributing this decline to the policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, which it deems as reinforcing "discriminatory" nationalist agendas.
Furthermore, the USCIRF alleges that the continued enforcement of laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), and anti-conversion and cow-slaughter laws has led to arbitrary detention, surveillance, and targeting of religious minorities and their advocates.
"Both news media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reporting on religious minorities were subjected to strict monitoring under FCRA regulations," the report has said.
"In February 2023, India's Ministry of Home Affairs suspended the FCRA license of the Centre for Policy Research, an NGO dedicated to reporting on social issues and state capacity, including discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities," it has said.
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