Says, it is proud of its secular credentials
Staff Reporter /NEW DELHI
India has rejected US Religious Freedom report saying, it is proud of its secular credentials, it’s status as the largest democracy and pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion.
To a query on the latest report on International Religious Freedom published by the US State Department, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, the Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens including minority communities.
He said it is widely acknowledged that India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect the fundamental rights.
Mr Kumar said India sees no locus standi for a foreign entity government to pronounce on the state of its citizens constitutionally protected rights.
In a statement on Saturday, the BJP said, the report shows clear bias against it and the Narendra Modi government.
Party’s media Head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said, the basic presumption in the report that there is some grand design behind anti-minority violence is simply false.
On the contrary, in most of such cases, these instances are carried out as a result of local disputes and by criminal mindsets.
US State Department International Religious Freedom Report
The US State Department in its annual 2018 International Religious Freedom Report has alleged that some senior officials of the ruling BJP made inflammatory speeches against the minority communities in India.
Mandated by the US Congress, the State Department in its voluminous report gives its assessment of the status of religious freedom in almost all the countries and territories of the world.
Mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against the minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef, an official US report said Friday.
“Mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, especially Muslims, continued throughout the year amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef,” it said.
According to some NGOs, the authorities often protected perpetrators from prosecution, it said.
The report said that as of November, there were 18 such attacks, and eight people killed during the year.
On June 22, two Uttar Pradesh police officers were charged with culpable homicide after Muslim cattle trader died of injuries sustained while being questioned in police custody, the report said.
Releasing the report at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the report was like a report card which tracks countries to see how well they have respected this fundamental human right.
In the India section, the State Department said that there were reports by nongovernmental organizations that the government sometimes failed to act on mob attacks on religious minorities, marginalised communities and critics of the government.