India slams USCIRF religious freedom report, says ‘misrepresents facts’

India on Thursday firmly rejected a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on religious freedom, saying it was a “biased organisation with a political agenda”.
“It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. We reject this malicious report, which only serves to discredit USCIRF further,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
In a strong reaction, the MEA said the USCIRF should utilise its time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the US.
“We would urge USCIRF to desist from such agenda-driven efforts. The USCIRF would also be well advised to utilise its time more productively on addressing human rights issues in the United States,” the MEA statement added.
It is important to note that the USCIRF report is critical of India for alleged violations of religious freedom.
“Our views on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are well known. It is a biased organisation with a political agenda,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Jaiswal posted the country’s response to the report.
The USCIRF, established by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, is a US federal government commission with commissioners appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In its recent report, the USCIRF alleged that “throughout 2024, individuals have been killed, beaten, and lynched by vigilante groups, religious leaders have been arbitrarily arrested, and homes and places of worship have been demolished. These events constitute particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
The USCIRF report described the use of misinformation and disinformation, including hate speech, by government officials to incite violent attacks against religious minorities and their places of worship.

The report further described the changes to and enforcement of India’s legal framework to target and disenfranchise religious minorities, including the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and several state-level anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws.