New Delhi:
India has criticised the US Fee on Worldwide Non secular Freedom (USCIRF) for urging sanctions towards Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling it a “biased organisation”.
The Exterior Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the US physique has been making “disparaging and inflammatory remarks” about India.
“It’s a biased organisation. I might say that we must always steer clear of such organisations as they’ve their very own agenda and lack any credibility…We don’t count on that the USCIRF will have interaction with the truth of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its various communities,” Jaiswal stated.
USCIRF chair Asif Mahmood – a Pakistan-born American citizen who has maintained shut ties along with his homeland’s political and diplomatic management – had opposed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s upcoming go to to the US and known as upon the US authorities to impose sanctions on the RSS. Bhagwat is scheduled to go to New York on August 29.
The US physique additionally requested Washington to not lengthen diplomatic courtesies to its leaders, and described RSS as an “umbrella organisation” whose sub-groups have “perpetrated assaults on spiritual minorities”.
“As an alternative, the USG (US Authorities) ought to deal with imposing sanctions on RSS members discovered accountable for FoRB (freedom of spiritual perception) violations,” the US physique stated.
Earlier in March, the USCIRF annual report criticised India for alleged “violations of spiritual freedom” and backed “focused sanctions” on people and entities such because the RSS and Analysis and Evaluation Wing, holding them accountable for the matter. In its advice, the USCIRF additionally known as for designating India as a “nation of specific concern”.
The USCIRF is an unbiased, bipartisan US federal authorities company. It makes coverage suggestions to the US President, the Secretary of State, and Congress, and tracks their implementation.
Hindu advocacy group slams USCIRF
A US-based advocacy group, HinduPACT, condemned the general public opposition by members of the USCIRF to the RSS chief’s go to to New York, saying the US physique has “disgraced its mandate”.
“When its chair speaks about India and the RSS, he sounds much less like the top of a pluralistic American fee and extra like an advocate for a hardened anti-Hindu narrative…Mohan Bhagwat leads one of many world’s most consequential Hindu organisations. He shouldn’t be met with slander scripted by CAIR, IAMC, and HfHR, teams which have made a behavior of treating Hindu self-assertion as extremism,” stated Ajay Shah, Founder and Chair of HinduPACT.
(With inputs from businesses)
