Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming state visit to the US next month, the host country’s State Department has recycled old issues in an apparent bid to tighten diplomatic screws on New Delhi to do Washington’s bidding on geopolitical and economic matters.
This rant came just five days after the White House announced that PM Modi will pay a state visit to the US on June 22.
The US State Department, on Monday, underlined “targeted attacks” on minorities, “home demolitions” and hate speeches against Muslims in India among threats facing religious freedom around the world, the media reported on Tuesday.
In its 2022 annual report on the state of freedom of religion around the world, the US outlined in great detail “numerous reports during the year of violence by law enforcement authorities against members of religious minorities in multiple states” in India.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who released the report, noted both progress and “continuation, and in some instances, the rise of very troubling trends.”
Earlier, a senior State Department official told reporters that the annual report outlined “continued targeted attacks against religious communities, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu Dalits, and indigenous communities; dehumanizing rhetoric, including open calls for genocide against Muslims; lynching and other hate-fueled violence, attacks on houses of worship and home demolitions, and in some cases impunity and even clemency for those who’ve engaged in attacks on religious minorities – we’re also continuing to see, at the state level, some restrictions on religious attire.”
The official, Rashad Hussain, the Ambassador at Large at the State Department for International Religious Freedom, a well-known pressure group of the US against other countries, cited the Hardwar speeches of December 2021 as particularly problematic.
“In India, legal advocates and faith leaders from across the country’s diverse religious communities condemned a case of extreme hate speech against Muslims in the city of Hardwar, calling for the country to uphold its historical traditions of pluralism and tolerance,” he said at the release of the report.
He was referring to a three-day Dharma Sansad held in December 2021, where speakers called for people to take up arms against Muslims. A case was registered by the Uttarakhand police against the organizers.
The other countries Hussain mentioned were Russia, China, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia.
Even earlier, the State Department’s annual report has been critical of the state of religious freedom in India, and, based on local news reports and accounts from civil society, it has listed instances and cases over the years.
India has firmly rejected these unsolicited observations and remarks before and in recent years questioned America’s right to stand in judgment on other countries, overlooking hate crimes against Blacks, Hispanics, and others in the US.
The US Commission on International Freedom has been far more critical of India and has, at least four times, recommended to the State Department to designate India as a “country of particular concern.”
On May 10, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on June 22, 2023.
The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together, she said.
The visit will strengthen the two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and their shared resolve to elevate strategic technology partnerships, including in defense, clean energy, and space.
The two leaders will discuss ways to further expand their educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, and work together to confront common challenges from climate change, to workforce development and health security.