India dismisses US religious freedom report as biased, deems panel an ‘entity of concern’

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemned the report for its bias, asserting that it continues to issue one-sided and politically influenced evaluations.

In its 2025 annual report, the USCIRF alleged that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise.

The USCIRF recommended to the US government to 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 on American soil 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)”.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report once again continued 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,” he said.

“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,” the MEA spokesperson added further.

He was responding to media queries on the 2025 annual report of USCIRF.

“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,” Jaiswal said.

In the report, the American entity also recommended to the US government to conduct a “review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations”.

It further claimed that authorities in India continued to exploit anti-terror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom.

In October last year, India finalised a major agreement with the United States to purchase 31 Predator drones from General Atomics for nearly $4 billion, aiming to enhance the military’s capabilities along the disputed borders with China.The delivery of the drones is slated to commence in January 2029.