India has rejected the findings of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s annual report, calling the commission’s findings “biased and tendentious.” In its annual report released Tuesday, the USCIRF proposed designating India as a “country of particular concern,” saying that religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward in 2019. It recommended that India should be placed on a blacklist of countries with uniquely poor records on protecting freedom of worship. In a sharp statement, the foreign ministry said the commission’s comments are not new. But it added the recent assessment, which it characterized as a “misrepresentation,” has “reached new levels.” “We regard the USCIRF as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly,” the foreign ministry said. In an apparent reference to dissent expressed by two of the nine members of the USCIRF over the proposal, the Indian statement noted the Commission has not been able to “carry its own commissioners in its endeavors.” The U.S congress created USCIRF in 1998 to make policy recommendations about global religious freedom. India’s rejection of the Commission’s views is not new – for more than a decade, it has denied visas to members of the USCIRF.
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