India has once again hit out at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), dismissing its latest report as biased and politically motivated…reports Asian Lite News
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asserted that the US agency, which frequently targets India over religious freedom concerns, should itself be classified as an “entity of concern.”
India has once again hit out at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), dismissing its latest report as biased and politically motivated. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asserted that the US agency, which frequently targets India over religious freedom concerns, should itself be classified as an “entity of concern.”
“We have seen the recently released 2025 Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal while responding to media queries on Wednesday. “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.”
“This effort to undermine India’s standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. USCIRF is a biased organisation with a political agenda. It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India.”
Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson
Reaffirming India’s commitment to religious diversity, Jaiswal noted that the country is home to 1.4 billion people belonging to all major faiths. He stated that the USCIRF fails to engage with India’s pluralistic framework and ignores the peaceful coexistence of its diverse communities.
“This effort 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 added.
This is not the first time that India has strongly criticised USCIRF, an independent US federal agency that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and US Congress. The MEA has repeatedly accused the commission of distorting facts and pursuing a political agenda under the guise of human rights advocacy.
In October 2024, while responding to the ‘Country Update’ on India in a USCIRF report, the MEA had firmly rejected its claims. “It is a biased organisation with a political agenda. It continues to misrepresent facts and peddles a motivated narrative about India. We reject this malicious report, which only serves to discredit USCIRF further,” Jaiswal had said at the time.
He had also advised the commission to focus its attention on addressing human rights concerns within the United States instead of interfering in India’s internal affairs.
Over the years, India has consistently expressed its disappointment with USCIRF’s stance on various issues, including the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Delhi riots, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and broader religious freedom concerns. The MEA has maintained that USCIRF selectively highlights incidents to fit a predetermined narrative rather than offering a balanced perspective.
In May 2024, the ministry had dismissed the commission’s previous report as propaganda, accusing it of attempting to interfere in India’s democratic processes. “The USCIRF is known as a biased organisation with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report. We really have no expectation that USCIRF will even seek to understand India’s diverse, pluralistic, and democratic ethos. Their efforts to interfere in the largest electoral exercise in the world will never succeed,” the MEA had stated then.
