US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there has been a worrying increase in cases of anti-conversion laws, hate speech and demolition of houses and places of worship of people of religious minority community in India.
On the occasion of the release of the State Department’s annual report on international religious freedom, Blinken said on Wednesday that people all over the world are struggling to protect religious freedom. The report said that senior US officials consistently expressed concerns about religious freedom issues with their Indian counterparts in 2023.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, ‘In India, we have seen a worrying increase in cases of anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolition of houses and places of worship of people of religious minority communities. Along with this, people all over the world are struggling a lot to protect religious freedom.’
The 2023 report on international religious freedom for India states that 10 out of 28 states have laws banning conversion of all religions. Some of these states also impose penalties against forced conversion for the purpose of marriage. India has previously rejected the US State Department’s annual report on human rights, saying it is based on misinformation and flawed understanding.
The Ministry of External Affairs said last year, ‘The biased remarks of some US officials serve to further reduce the credibility of these reports.’ In this year’s report, the US State Department said that Christians and Muslims were arrested under laws banning forced conversion. Religious groups say that in some cases members of religious minority communities were tortured and imprisoned on false and fabricated charges.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a national Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the State Department said Muslim, Sikh, Christian and tribal leaders, as well as officials of some state governments, have opposed it on the ground that it is part of a plan to turn the country into a ‘‘Hindu Rashtra’’.