Minorities suffered killings, assaults, intimidation throughout 2021 in India: US report

Washington: The US State Department said in its annual report that minorities in India faced killings, assaults and intimidation throughout the year 2021.

The report assessing religious freedom across the globe with separate chapters on each nation was released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department on Thursday.

Rejecting the US religious freedom report, India earlier said that it saw no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

The Indian section of the report spares giving any opinion on the status of religious minorities.

However, it documents 'various aspects' of it as appeared in the Indian press and the Indian government report.

It also liberally quotes the allegations of various non-profit organisations, and minority institutions on attacks on them, but most of the time is quite silent on the results of the investigations being undertaken by the officials, responses of the government.

"Attacks on members of religious minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout the year. These included incidents of 'cow vigilantism' against non-Hindus based on allegations of cow slaughter or trade in beef," said the India section of the report.

The report mentions RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement that Hindus and Muslims in India had the same DNA and should not be differentiated by religion.

"In July, Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the RSS, which is commonly considered to be the ideological parent to India's ruling party BJP, publicly stated that Hindus and Muslims in India had the same DNA and should not be differentiated by religion," the report said.

"There can never be any dominance of either Hindus or Muslims (in the country); there can only be the dominance of Indians," Mr Bhagwat said, adding that members of the Muslim community should not be afraid that Islam is in danger in India. He also said that killing non-Hindus for cow slaughter was an act against Hinduism, the report said.

"Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on September 12 publicly stated that earlier governments in Uttar Pradesh had favoured Muslim constituents in benefits distribution," it said.

The police arrested, the report said, non-Hindus for making comments in the media or on social media that were considered offensive to Hindus or Hinduism.

NGOs, including faith-based organisations, continued to criticise 2020 amendments passed to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) as constraining civil society by reducing the amount of foreign funding that NGOs, including religious organisations, could use for administrative purposes and adding onerous oversight and certification requirements, it said.

The government continued to say the law strengthened oversight and accountability of foreign NGO funding in the country.

According to the media reports, FCRA licences of 5,789 NGOs, including hundreds of faith-based organisations, lapsed after the government said the organisations did not apply for renewal in time. In addition, during the year the government suspended FCRA licences of 179 NGOs, including some that were faith-based, the report said.

Source: PTI