A US panel on religious freedom said on Tuesday that the treatment of minorities in India is deteriorating and recommended sanctions on India’s external spy agency RAW for its alleged involvement in plots to kill Sikh separatists. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom also said in its annual report that communist-ruled Vietnam has stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended designating Vietnam as a “country of particular concern”. In 2024, the situation of religious freedom in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to increase, the commission said in a report released on Tuesday. It said nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “spread hate speech and misinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign.
“USCIRF’s continued attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and impose claims on India’s vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than genuine concern for religious freedom,” Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
