Attacks on non secular minorities in India occurred all through 2021: US State Department

The US State Department in its annual report back to the Congress on worldwide non secular freedom has alleged that in India in 2021 assault on members of the minority communities, together with killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred all year long.

Released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, the report offers its personal perspective to the standing and violations of non secular freedom throughout the globe and have separate chapters on every of the international locations.

India beforehand rejected the US non secular freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a international authorities to pronounce on the state of its residents’ constitutionally protected rights.

The India part of the report avoids giving any opinion on the standing of non secular minorities, however paperwork numerous points of it as appeared within the Indian press and the Indian authorities experiences. It additionally liberally quotes the allegations of assorted non-profit organisations, and minority establishments on assaults on them, however more often than not is sort of silent on the outcomes of the investigations being undertaken by the officers, responses of the federal government.

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“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,” mentioned the India part of the report.

It does takes observe of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s assertion that Hindus and Muslims in India had the identical DNA and shouldn’t be differentiated by faith.

“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 mentioned.

“There can never be any dominance of either Hindus or Muslims (in the country); there can only be the dominance of Indians,” Bhagwat mentioned, including that members of the Muslim neighborhood shouldn’t be afraid that Islam is in peril in India. He additionally mentioned that killing non-Hindus for cow slaughter was an act towards Hinduism, the report mentioned.

“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 mentioned.

The report mentioned that the police arrested non-Hindus for making feedback within the media or on social media that had been thought-about offensive to Hindus or Hinduism.

NGOs, together with faith-based organisations, continued to criticise 2020 amendments handed to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) as constraining civil society by decreasing the quantity of international funding that NGOs, together with non secular organizations, might use for administrative functions and including onerous oversight and certification necessities, it mentioned.

The authorities continued to say the regulation strengthened oversight and accountability of international NGO funding within the nation.

According to the media experiences, FCRA licenses of 5,789 NGOs, together with a whole lot of faith-based organisations, lapsed after the federal government mentioned the organisations didn’t apply for renewal in time. In addition, through the yr the federal government suspended FCRA licenses of 179 NGOs, together with some that had been faith-based, the report mentioned.