US religious freedom panel recommends targeted sanctions on RSS, R&AW
US religious freedom panel recommends targeted sanctions on RSS, R&AW
M.U.H
16/03/202622
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended targeted sanctions on entities such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ideological fount, and the external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), for violations of religious freedom. It has designated India as a “country of particular concern” and asked Washington to link arms sales and trade policies to religious freedom.
The external affairs ministry has not responded to USCIRF’s latest report, but it has repudiated its findings in previous years, calling them “biased” and “politically motivated”. Created in 1998 by an act of Congress, the USCIRF “monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) abroad” and makes recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress. The agency says it acts independently, but the US President and senior political leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate appoint its nine commissioners.
In its annual report, the USCIRF argued that conditions for religious freedom in India have “continued to deteriorate” and accused the Indian government of “targeting” religious minorities and houses of worship.
“Several states undertook efforts to introduce or strengthen anti-conversion laws to include harsher prison sentences. Indian authorities also facilitated widespread detention and illegal expulsion of citizens and religious refugees and tolerated vigilante attacks against religious minority communities,” the report said.
It criticised legislation such as the Waqf (Amendment) Act, which provides for sweeping changes in regulating and managing Islamic charitable endowments, and the Uttarakhand State Authority for Minority Education Act.
The USCIRF cited communal clashes in states like Maharashtra, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh, blaming groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS affiliate, for violence.
It recommended that the US government press India on religious freedom issues. The USCIRF called for the government to “enforce Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act to halt arms sales to India based on continued acts of intimidation and harassment against US citizens and religious minorities.”
In 2025, the external affairs ministry said USCIRF continued its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments. It said 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.
The ministry underlined that India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions. It said it does not expect the USCIRF to 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,” the ministry said last year.
India has also denied visas to the USCIRF team and pushed back against the commission’s comments on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019.
