A US panel has severely criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for alleged religious persecution of minorities and has once again designated India among "Countries of Particular Concern" (CPCs) for "ongoing, and egregious abuses of freedom of religion".
In its annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which sends its recommendations to the U.S. Congress and the State Department, said violence against religious minorities has coincided with the rise in political influence of the Sangh Parivar, or Hindu fraternal groups associated with the BJP that aggressively press for policies to promote the "Hinduization" of India.
The ascent to power in 1998 of the BJP, which heads the ruling federal coalition, "has helped to foster a climate in which extremists believe that violence against religious minorities will not be systematically punished," the report said.
Commission chairman Michael K. Young and members Preeta D. Bansal and Felice D. Gaer dissented from its recommendation that India be designated a CPC.
The commission noted that in India, violence, including fatal attacks, against Muslims and Christians continues, and the government is yet to adequately act against those responsible for the killing of an estimated 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.
Several BJP ministers have publicly allied themselves with extremist Hindu organizations, whose members regularly employ hate speech against religious minorities, have been implicated in violence against them, and seek legislation to prohibit the religious conversion of Dalits and others from Hinduism, the panel said.
Despite its democratic traditions, according to the panel, religious minorities in India continue to be subject to violent attacks, including killings, in what is called "communal violence".
Those behind the violence are rarely held responsible for their actions, the report said.
In addition to recommending India be named a CPC, the commission has suggested that the US government:
* Urge the BJP leadership to denounce the militancy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP, which supports violence and discrimination;
* Make clear its concern to the BJP-led government that virulent nationalist rhetoric is fuelling an atmosphere in which perpetrators believe they can attack religious minorities with impunity;
* Persistently press the Indian government to pursue perpetrators of violent acts that target members of minority religious groups;
* Urge the Indian government to oppose any attempts to interfere with or prohibit ties between religious communities inside India and their co-religionists outside the country, and any government efforts to regulate religious choice or conversion;
* Take into account, in the course of working toward improvements in U.S.-Indian economic and trade relations, the efforts of the Indian government to protect religious freedom, prevent and punish violence against religious minorities, and promote the rule of law.