US State Department Reports Spike in Attacks on Minorities in India in 2021

In April this year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended designating India and 14 other nations as “countries of particular concern” in the context of religious freedom. This is the third consecutive year that the USCIRF has recommended adding India to the religious freedom blacklist over alleged abuses.

The US State Department, in its annual report to the Congress on international religious freedom, has warned of an increase in attacks against religious minorities.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released the report on religious freedom across the globe on Thursday at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

In its chapter on India, the report says: “Attacks on members of religious minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout the year. These included incidents of 'cow vigilantism' against non-Hindus based on allegations of cow slaughter or trade in beef”.

Citing data of the United Christian Forum (UCF), a Christian rights NGO, the report says that 29 Christians in three Indian states were arrested under laws restricting religious conversions on suspicion of forceful or fraudulent conversions between January and June 2021.

“According to the UCF, the number of violent attacks against Christians in the country rose to 486 in 2021 during the year from 279 in 2020”, the report says, adding that most of the incidents were reported in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and included attacks on pastors, disruption of worship services, and vandalism.

The report also took note of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement underlining that Hindus and Muslims in India have the same DNA and should not be differentiated by religion.

"In July, Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the RSS, which is commonly considered to be the ideological parent to India's ruling party BJP, publicly stated that Hindus and Muslims in India had the same DNA and should not be differentiated by religion", the report mentions.

"There can never be any dominance of either Hindus or Muslims (in the country); there can only be the dominance of Indians", Bhagwat said, adding that members of the Muslim community should not fear that Islam might be in danger in India. He also said that killing non-Hindus for cow slaughter was an act against Hinduism, the report stated.

The US report also includes the 2020 amendment of India's Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) by the federal government.

“NGOs, including faith-based organisations, continued to criticise 2020 amendments passed to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) as constraining civil society by reducing the amount of foreign funding that NGOs, including religious organizations, could use for administrative purposes and adding onerous oversight and certification requirements”.

In April, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended designating India as a “country of particular concern” in the context of religious freedom.

The USCIRF report also recommended adding Pakistan, Afghanistan, and 12 other countries in the religious blacklist over alleged abuses.

In 2020, the panel flagged concern for the first time and noted a “sharp downward turn" in religious freedom in India in 2019.

However, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that year described the USCIRF as an "Organisation of Particular Concern" and questioned its locus standi.