India slams US report on religious freedom, accuses USCIRF of bias

New Delhi: India on Wednesday dismissed a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that claimed religious freedom in the country had deteriorated. New Delhi described the report as 'biased and politically motivated' and said that USCIRF should be designated as an 'entity of concern'.

The External Affairs Ministry (EAM) said that USCIRF's persistent attempts to cast aspersions on the country's vibrant multicultural society reflect a "deliberate" agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom. It added that the efforts to "undermine" India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed.

In its 2025 annual report, the USCIRF alleged that the attacks and discrimination against religious minorities in India continued to rise. The USCIRF recommended that the US government impose "targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States".

The US has charged Yadav, a former Indian government official, in the alleged foiled plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in 2023. In its recommendation, the USCIRF also called for designating India as a "country of particular concern" or CPC, for engaging in and "tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)".

The US panel also accused India of exploiting anti-terror and financing laws to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom.

EAM spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report once again issued 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," he said.

India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we do not expect that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India's pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities," he said.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US federal government agency. It makes policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.