In a first, US commissions bats for sanctions on R&AW; India rejects report
This comes after USCIRF report claims that religious freedom conditions in India worsened in 2024, alleging increased attacks and discrimination against minorities.
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Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson for the MEA. (X)
India has rejected a US panel’s latest religious freedom report which says minorities in the country face deteriorating treatment and — for the first time — recommends targeted sanctions against the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) over its alleged involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatists.
The report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), released on March 25, recommended designating India as “country of particular concern” among 15 others including Afghanistan, Russia, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
In a strongly worded response on Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the report “biased and politically motivated”.
Responding to questions, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “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.”
“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,” he said.
The latest report documents religious freedom conditions in 2024 and recommends action to the White House, Congress and State Department. These recommendations are not binding.
The independent, bipartisan US federal government agency has flagged concerns over the state of minorities in India several times over the years. But this is the first time that it has also mentioned the Indian intelligence agency in connection with alleged repression of minorities and recommended targeted sanctions.
“The Indian government also continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates… International reporting and intelligence from the Canadian government corroborated allegations linking an official in India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and six diplomats to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York,” the report said.
A first: Call for action on R&AW
It said the US Congress should designate India as a “country of particular concern” for “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations…”
It recommended: “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 US.”
Our response to media queries regarding the 2025 Annual Report of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom⬇️
🔗 https://t.co/c5tAF1INZ3 pic.twitter.com/PvpwbZHv5u
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 26, 2025
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. India has said Yadav was “no longer an employee of the Government of India”.
“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,” Jaiswal said Wednesday.
In the report, the agency also recommended that the US government 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”. In October last year, India sealed a deal with the US to procure 31 Predator drones at $4 billion to shore up its defence along the Eastern borders.
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