Special report by US Commission on Religious Freedom names Modi, Shah

The special report issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on 2 October, the International Day of Non-Violence, is unusual in more ways than one. Not only does it come soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, but it is unusual because the commission had already issued its annual India Report 2024. And finally, this update was issued while India's minister for external affairs S. Jaishankar is still in the US.

The India Report 2024 had highlighted how, 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”.  The 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.

In addition, it had described changes in India’s legal framework to target and disenfranchise religious minorities, including the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and several state-level anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws.

The USCIRF also recommended that the US department of state designate India as a “country of particular concern” for "engaging in systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom". 

The special update released yesterday names PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and three BJP MLAs — Nitesh Rane and Geeta Jain in Maharashtra and T. Raja Singh in Telangana — for hate speech directed at Muslims.

Here are some excerpts from the updated country report on India:

· In the leadup to the June 2024 elections, political officials increasingly wielded hate speech and discriminatory rhetoric against Muslims and other religious minorities.

· PM Modi repeatedly claimed the Opposition Congress party would “wipe out [the] Hindu faith from the country” and had plans to make Hindus “second class citizens in their own country”. He perpetuated hateful stereotypes about Muslims, referring to them as “infiltrators”.

· Union home minister Amit Shah echoed these statements and insisted falsely that opposition leaders would impose sharia if elected — despite the fact that no opposition party election manifesto included a mention of sharia or Muslims.

· Attacks against Muslims in Mumbai's Mira Road following the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram temple in January erupted following inflammatory speeches by Rane and Jain. Rane reportedly openly threatened the Muslim community, using offensive language and urging Hindus to “ignite and retaliate”.

· Mumbai Police argued in July that the use of terms like 'jihadi', 'Rohingya', and 'Bangladeshi' were not aimed at Muslims and therefore did not fall under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code.

· T. Raja Singh gave a 40-minute speech in February, in which he openly called for violence against Muslims and demolition of mosques in Kashi and Mathura. Singh claimed Muslims were facilitating forceful conversions of Hindus and repeatedly referred to Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims as “illegal”. He encouraged his audience to be “prepared to fight for the protection of our country and religion” and to fight against “love jihad,” forced conversion, and cow slaughter.

· In March, a group of UN experts raised an alarm about the level of violence and hate crimes against religious minorities in the lead-up to national elections, including vigilante violence, targeted and arbitrary killings, demolition of property, and harassment.

· From January to March, 161 incidents of violence against Christians in India were reported, 47 of them from Chhattisgarh. Such incidents ranged from violent attacks on churches and prayer meetings to physical assaults, harassment, and false allegations of forced conversion.

· In March, a group of Hindus in Gujarat violently attacked international Muslim students as they gathered for prayer during Ramadan at Gujarat University. The university subsequently issued new guidelines, instructing students not to pray in common spaces.

· Following the Lok Sabha election results, at least 28 attacks against Muslims occurred from June to August. Religious educational institutions were also subjected to harassment and targeting.

· In February, Hindu organisations entered a Catholic school in Assam and demanded instructors cease using Christian images and symbols.

· In March, Allahabad High Court passed a judgment striking down a previous ruling on the governance of madrasas, effectively banning Islamic schools in that state and ordering the public-school enrolment of students whom the closures had impacted.

· Journalists, academics, and civil society organisations documenting India’s religious freedom violations have reported facing denial of consular services, including the revocation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards as well as threats of violence and surveillance.

· In April, international reporting linked an official in India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York.

· Indian authorities have continued to exploit anti-terror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), to crack down on civil society organisations, religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom. The UAPA was enacted in 1967 but amended in 2019, allowing the government to designate individuals as “terrorists” without due process.

· Authorities have used India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to obstruct the work of civil society organisations. FCRA regulates access to foreign funds for individuals and organisations and prohibits receipt of foreign funds for “any activities [deemed] detrimental to the national interest” of India.

· In April, India’s home ministry cancelled FCRA licenses of five NGOs, including the Church of North India (CNI), Synodical Board of Social Service, Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, and Evangelical Fellowship of India.

· In total, the Indian government has cancelled over 20,000 FCRA registrations since 2012.