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India Blacklisted!

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 19-Mar-2026

Passport Photo for Cedric Prakash

On March 4, 2026, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released in Washington its Annual Report 2026. The USCIRF website( www.uscirf.gov) states that, “The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), as amended. USCIRF monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) abroad; makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations. USCIRF’s analysis is based on international standards. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.’”

In a very detailed chapter ( https://www.uscirf.gov/countries/india  ) on the lack  of religious freedom in India, the latest Report  states that religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate in 2025. The  Indian government introduced and enforced new legislation targeting religious minority communities and their houses of worship. Several states undertook efforts to introduce or strengthen anti-conversion laws with harsher prison sentences. Authorities facilitated widespread detention and illegal expulsion of citizens and religious refugees while tolerating vigilante attacks against religious minority communities. Hindu nationalist mobs harassed, incited, and instigated violence against Muslims and Christians with impunity across several States throughout the year.The details on India are scathing – authenticated with hard data and evidence which is incontrevertible. It also held the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) responsible for what is happening to the minorities in India. The  USCIRF Report blacklists India and has recommended to the US Government that it should  be listed in the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC).

The USCIRF has made far reaching recommendations to the US Government, which include

  • Designate India as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA);
  • Press India to allow US government entities such as USCIRF and the U.S. Department of State to conduct in-country assessments of religious freedom conditions;   
  • Impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as India’s Research and Analysis Wing and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for their responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ or entities’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States;
  • Link future U.S. security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom; and        
  • Enforce Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act to halt arms sales to India based on continued acts of intimidation and harassment against U.S. citizens and religious minorities.
  • The U.S. Congress should: Reintroduce and pass the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 to require the annual reporting of acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States
  • Besides, the commission also recommended linking future US security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom.

If seriously implemented , these recommendations would certainly have a profound impact on US –India relationship.

On Monday 16 March , the Government of India  finally responded to the USCIRF report.  Randhir Jaiswal , a spokesperson from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, "We have taken note of the latest report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). We categorically reject its motivated and biased characterisation of India. For several years now, USCIRF has persisted in presenting a distorted and selective picture of India, relying on questionable sources and ideological narratives rather than objective facts.". He added, "Such repeated misrepresentations only undermine the credibility of the Commission itself. Instead of persisting with selective criticism of India, USCIRF would do well to reflect on the disturbing incidents of vandalism and attacks on Hindu temples in the United States, selective targeting of India, and growing intolerance and intimidation of members of the Indian diaspora in the United States, which merit serious attention,"

It was the usual denial by a regime, which desperately wants to sweep the truth under the carpet. A pathetic response indeed! Every single day there are reports in the Indian media (in spite of it being ‘godified’!) of how the religious minorities (particularly the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs) are being denigrated , demonised and even attacked. No one can deny this – not even a government which has sophisticated the art of lying and falsehood !

India has been faring miserably on every global parameter/indicator. The government has become a source of ridicule worldwide! We have completely lost the spine we once had as a non-aligned nation under Nehru's leadership! Our PM has to go to Texas to canvas politically for Trump; the bhakts gloat over a medal (a non-existent ‘honour’) given to him in the Israeli Parliament even as the entire opposition is seen walking out! What a shame for the nation!

Now the Indian government cannot bear the shame of the USCIRF report on freedom of religion! The Indian Government would have saved some face  if instead of attacking the messenger:

- had accepted the report in all honesty and begun corrective measures immediately!

-shown courage by rebutting the report point by point and proving them wrong (obviously in no way they can do so!)

- invite immediately the USCIRF to come to India (as they really wanted to for since the last several years) and give them the possibility of visiting every corner of the country, meet  with religious minorities and others and see for themselves the ‘reality’ of freedom of religion in India

- Tell all the ‘sanghis’, ‘bhakts’ and other ‘hindutvadis’ who live in the US to return to India immediately before ICE arrests them and deports them in handcuffs!

Some years ago, Lawrence Ferlinghetti had in his poem ‘Pity the Nation’ these oft-quoted words: "Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves"  and for good measure we can add, "where freedom of religion is throttled!" The plain truth about India today!

(The author is a renowned human rights, reconciliation and peace activist. He is also a prolific writer. Contact cedricprakash@gmail.com. Views expressed in this article are personal.)

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