Kathmandu. India has objected to the report on International Religious Freedom issued by the US State Department as biased and unilateral.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while releasing the 2023 report on religious freedom, said that although countries around the world are leading the way in protecting religious freedom, India is lagging behind. Blinken expressed concern over the increase in hate speech in India, the destruction of religious sites of religious minorities, and the promotion of anti-conversion laws.
Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs of preparing the report in a biased manner by including only a few incidents. He commented that the report is biased and inspired by vote bank thinking. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs says that the US report has also challenged the honesty of the Indian courts by mentioning the issue of promoting anti-conversion laws.
In the report published by the American Ministry of State, it is mentioned that the Indian government has failed to control the ongoing communal violence affecting the religious minority communities like Muslims and Christians. In the year 2023, 687 incidents of violence took place in Manipur and 500 churches were damaged, and 70 thousand people were displaced in the report. Similarly, it is mentioned that minorities and their advocates in India have been targeted.
Spokesman Jaiswal says that the US is spreading anti-India propaganda by targeting India. India is accused of having more anti-minority incidents in America than India. The United States has published the status of 28 countries regarding religious freedom.