ICC Note:

U.S. Senators have expressed their concern over the deterioration of religious freedom in a hearing recently held by the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. Since the rise of the Hindu nationalist BJP, religious freedom and religious minorities have come under assault by radical Hindu nationalists. In 2016, ICC has recorded over 100 attacks on Christians and their places of worship. With India’s Prime Minister coming to DC very soon, will the U.S. Government continue to voice its concerns over the state of religious freedom in India?

5/26/2016 India (Business Standard) – Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, top US Senators have expressed deep concern over religious freedom, increasing attack on civil society and human rights in India with the Obama Administration saying it was having a dialogue with the country on these issues.

“The situation does raise concern about religious freedom in India,” Colorado Senator Cory Gardner said during a Congressional hearing on India convened by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, while expressing his concern on recent incidents of religious intolerance when artists returned their awards, said he is hoping to raise this issue with Prime Minister Modi when he travels to Washington DC next month.

Describing the anti-conversion laws in some states as problematic, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, a Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concern over religious freedom in India.

Some of the members also raised the issue of denying visas to the members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Agreeing with the concerns of the Senators, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said while the Obama Administration has been raising these issues and concerns at the highest level and is having a dialogue with India on this issue, it is the vibrant civil society of India which is itself the most robust and string voice on this.

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