The US Commission on International Freedom has recommended in its latest report that India be designated as a 'country of particular concern' on the issue of religious freedom. The report states that the situation continues to worsen in India with the national government continuing to suppress critical voices, particularly religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf. Suppression is carried out through surveillance, harassment, demolition of property, detention under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and choking NGOs of funds by misuse of FCRA provisions. The commission has infact gone so far as to urge the US government to impose targeted sanctions on Indian agencies and officials responsible for 'severe violation' of religious freedom by freezing their assets. Mosques and churches in India are being vandalized but of course the sarkar closes its eyes to such criminal activities in pursuit of 'Hindu Rashtra'. The MEA has not unsurprisingly 'rejected' these 'biased'/ 'motivated' comments and termed it as 'misrepresentation of facts' citing India's plurality, democratic ethos, and its constitutional mechanisms. It is almost a crime being a member of the minority community in Bharat.
