New Delhi: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday said there has been a “concerning increase” in hate speech, anti-conversion laws, and demolitions of homes and places of worship belonging to minority groups in India.
His remarks came as the US State Department released its annual religious freedom report, which raises concerns about the Indian government’s ability to safeguard minorities, and documents instances of “inflammatory” remarks by “public figures” and complaints against them.
“In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities,” said Blinken.
The report takes note of laws in certain Indian states that restrict religious conversions amid allegations of forced conversion and conversion by marriage. It also shares concerns on the misuse of these laws by “hardline” groups.
“Ten of the country’s 28 states — Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh — have laws restricting religious conversion by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, fraud, or marriage (done for the sole purpose of unlawful conversion),” the report reads.
It quotes members of minority communities claiming discrimination at the state and societal levels. “In Haryana, authorities demolished 1,208 structures in the area where there was communal violence, with civil society organisations and international NGOs accusing authorities of largely targeting Muslim homes and shops.”
“Our report also documents cases where violence is occurring at the societal level, sometimes with impunity, and it also contributes to the repression of religious communities,” Blinken said at the release.
The US State Department’s document further takes note of various news reports that accused the ruling BJP and organisations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) of running campaigns to spread inflammatory material falsely targeting Muslims on an industrial scale. It also mentions instances of hijab-clad female students being prevented from entering classes or taking exams.
An initiative of the US State Department in the 25th year of its release, the report discusses religious freedoms in 199 countries. Last year’s report, which had also raised concerns over the Indian government’s alleged targeting of faith communities, was rejected by the external affairs ministry on grounds that it was based on “misinformation and flawed understanding”.
On Christian community & Manipur violence
The latest report invokes a 2023 report by Irish NGO Church in Chains which said that although the Indian Constitution guarantees religious freedom, Christians in rural areas “face increasing persecution from Hindu extremists motivated by Hindu nationalist ideology”.
The 2023 report, submitted by the NGO to the Irish Parliament, said: “The extremists attack small churches, beat pastors and members, set fire to homes and church buildings, and accuse Christians of being involved in forced conversions of Hindus.”
Blinken too, in his speech, said: “Christian communities reported that local police aided mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion activities or stood by while mobs attacked them and then arrested the victims on conversion charges.”
Referring to the ethnic violence in Manipur, the US report borrowed data to say that “at least 253 churches were burned down, more than 200 persons were killed and more than 60,000 displaced” due to the violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities.
The report also noted that “the Supreme Court criticised the failure of the central and Manipur governments to halt the violence, especially in the early stages of the conflict”.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)