New Delhi: India on Friday trashed remarks by senior officials of US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calling for sanctions against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and asked Washington not to extend diplomatic courtesies to its leaders.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, rejecting the remarks described the USCIRF as a “biased” organisation.
“We are all aware that the organisation that you are referring to has been making disparaging and inflammatory remarks about India,” he said at his bi-weekly media briefing.
“It is a biased organisation. I would say that we should keep away from such organisations as they have their own agenda and lack any credibility,” he said.
Jaiswal was responding to a question on the remarks by the USCIRF officials.
USCIRF Commissioner Gene Mills said RSS leaders, even when affiliated with the Indian government, should not be honoured with high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies.
“Instead, the USG (US Government) should focus on imposing sanctions on RSS members found responsible for FoRB (freedom of religious belief) violations,” Mills said.
USCIRF chair Asif Mahmood described RSS as an umbrella organisation whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities.
USCIRF posted the remarks by Mahmood and Mills on its X account.
In March, the USCIRF annual report criticised India for alleged violations of religious freedom and backed “targeted sanctions” on individuals and entities such as the RSS and Research and Analysis Wing, holding them responsible for the matter.
In its recommendation, the USCIRF also called for designating India as a “country of particular concern” or CPC, for engaging in and “tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.
