Why India's Image Is Being Sullied by Global Bodies

In March this year, the USCIRF (US Commission on International Religious Freedom) released its annual report. On India, it recommended, "Designate India as a 'country of particular concern,' for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations." It added, "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." For the past few years, near-similar recommendations on India have been made by the commission.

- HARSHA KAKAR

The Indian government rejected the report. The MEA spokesperson mentioned that the USCIRF "should (itself) be designated as an entity of concern," adding that the institution has "persistently attempted to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India's vibrant multicultural society, reflecting a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom."

The fact that the USCIRF is biased is well known. There is no mention of the killings of thousands of Palestinians by Israel, backed by the US, solely because it does not suit Washington. Similar is the silence on the deaths of hundreds of innocent Muslims due to the US's relentless airstrikes in largely Muslim-majority nations.

The US is worse on religious freedom than most nations on which USCIRF comments adversely. President Donald Trump is imposing visa restrictions mainly on those from predominantly Muslim nations. A similar ban by him in 2017 was labeled as a 'Muslim ban' by his aides. On all this, the commission is silent, while about India it bases its assessment on a few random incidents.

The USCIRF is not the only organization that displays an anti-India bias. The recently released World Happiness Index placed India at 118 out of 147 nations. Surprisingly, nations like terrorist-dominated Libya, bankrupt Venezuela, starving Rwanda, terrorism-infested Iraq, Lebanon, and Pakistan, as well as war-ravaged Ukraine, are way ahead in happiness. It leaves one to question the credibility of these assessments.

World democracy indices, issued by institutions in different countries, invariably point fingers at Indian democracy. Freedom House, a US-based institution, terms Indian democracy as 'partially free,' V-Dem from Sweden calls it an 'electoral autocracy,' and the Economist Intelligence Unit from the UK labels it as a 'flawed democracy.'