STATEMENT
FIACONA urges U.S. State Department to designate India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’
May 15, 2023, Washington DC. The Federation of Indian Christian Organization in North America (FIACONA), an advocacy organization for religious freedom in India, applauds the United States State Department for exposing the dubious record of Human Rights and Religious Freedom in India under the BJP administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the 2022 report on International religious freedom, India has been accused of systematic violations of human rights that included punitive bulldozing of Muslim homes and businesses, attacking the places of Christian worship on baseless allegations of ‘forced conversions’, and creating fear and spreading a sense of insecurity among the religious minorities.
The report states, “In multiple states, police arrested Christians accused of forcing others to convert. Christian groups said police sometimes aided crowds who disrupted worship services the crowds said were forcibly converting Hindus”. The report also cited that 108 former senior government officials wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that government discrimination against religious minorities, “particularly Muslims, in states like Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand,” was “undermining” the country’s constitution.”
The report also stated, “Attacks on members of religious minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred in various states throughout the year. These included incidents of “cow vigilantism” against non-Hindus based on allegations of cow slaughter or trade in beef and incidents in which Muslim men were alleged to have married Hindu women to convert them. There were also attacks on pastors, disruption of Christian and Muslim worship services, and vandalism of churches. By November 26, the NGO United Christian Forum (UCF) said there had been 511 anti-Christian incidents around the country reported to its hotline, compared to 505 in all of 2021, and urged the government to take action in response to these incidents. Most of the incidents were reported in four states: Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu. On April 6, the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America released its 2022 annual report and documented 761 violent incidents against Christians in the country in 2021, including neighborhood skirmishes, targeted killings, and armed assaults”. FIACONA recorded 1198 violent attack on Christians in 2022 across India,
The report also talked about the efforts by the U.S. government as regards these violations that have the potential of straining, if not disrupting, strong U.S-India ties. The report concluded by stating that “The embassy and consulate officials, including the Chargés d’Affaires, engaged with government officials, members of parliament, and politicians from multiple political parties to emphasize the importance of religious freedom and the responsibility of democracies to ensure the rights of religious minorities. Embassy and consulate officials and visiting senior officials from Washington also met with representatives of religious minorities, NGOs, civil society members, academics, and interfaith leaders to discuss the importance of religious freedom and pluralism, the value of interfaith dialogue, and the operating environment for faith-based NGOs. The Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs engaged with civil society representatives for their perspectives on religious freedom challenges within the country and with government officials to underscore the importance of respecting human rights, including religious freedom.”
However, these ongoing efforts by the state department over the years proved to be fruitless and continuing on this path will only further encourage India to defy U.S. on other strategic interests as well. Considering the above, FIACONA urges the U.S. State Department to accept the recommendation of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and declare India as a ‘country of particular concern’ for its human rights and religious freedom violations and demand that India respects its own constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
