Chicago — June 27, 2024
The US State Department’s 2023 Religious Freedom Report on India found violent attacks against minority groups, particularly Muslims and Christians, including murders, assaults and vandalism of places of worship.
In 2023, senior US officials will continue to “raise religious freedom concerns” with their Indian counterparts, a report on international religious freedom released on Wednesday said.
Human rights experts say attacks on minorities have increased in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently won a third term in office, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We are seeing an increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship against members of religious minority communities in India,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said when the report was released. in a rare direct rebuke to India.
US criticism of India has generally been tempered by close economic ties and New Delhi’s importance to Washington as a rival to China, political analysts say.
