USCIRF should be designated as an entity of concern: MEA
New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Trashing the latest United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, India on Wednesday once again urged the US agency - "that should be designated as an entity of concern" - to desist from its agenda-driven efforts by misrepresenting facts and peddling a motivated narrative.
"We have seen the recently released 2025 Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments. The USCIRF's persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India's vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal while responding to media queries.
"India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities. Such efforts to undermine India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern," he added.
It is not for the first time that India has slammed USCIRF, the US federal government agency which monitors the universal right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) abroad and makes policy recommendations to the country's President, Secretary of State and US Congress.
Last October, while responding to media queries regarding the 'Country Update' on India in the USCIRF report, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had made it clear that New Delhi's views on the agency are well known.
"It is 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," Jaiswal had stated then.
"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," he had added.
India has repeatedly and "regrettably" stated over the years that USCIRF continues to "misrepresent facts" time and again in its statements and reports "in pursuance of its motivated agenda".
From Covid-19 and Delhi riots to the Citizenship Amendment Bill and religious freedom, the MEA has trashed various USCIRF reports and observations.
"The USCIRF is known as a biased organisation with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report. We really have no expectation that USCIRF will even seek to understand India's diverse, pluralistic and democratic ethos. Their efforts to interfere in the largest electoral exercise of the world will never succeed," the MEA had stated in May 2024.
Source: IANS
