The Crossbill News Desk
A new issue brief released by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has renewed criticism of India’s treatment of religious minorities, arguing that the country’s political framework enables discriminatory laws and practices.
The bipartisan, Congress-backed body said that ties between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have shaped legislation that restricts the rights of non-Hindu communities.
According to the update, “the implementation of national and state-level laws create severe restrictions on religious freedom across the country.”
The Union government has not yet issued a response to the latest brief, though after USCIRF’s 2025 annual report in March, the Ministry of External Affairs had dismissed the commission’s assessment as “biased and politically motivated.”
The brief concluded that “despite offering some constitutional protections for FoRB (Freedom of Religion or Belief), India’s political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities.”
It said the “interconnected relationship” between the BJP and the RSS, described as a “Hindu nationalist group”, has contributed to the “creation and enforcement of several discriminatory pieces of legislation, including citizenship, anti-conversion, and cow slaughter laws.”
Since 2014, the BJP has “enforced sectarian policies seeking to establish India as an overtly Hindu state, in contrast with the secular principles of the constitution.”
USCIRF asserted that the enforcement of these laws “disproportionately targets and impacts religious minorities and their ability to freely practice their religion or belief as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a signatory.”
It added that “The RSS’s primary mission is to build a ‘Hindu Rastra,’ or Hindu state,” and that the organisation “promotes the notion that India is a Hindu nation, excluding Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Parsis, and other religious minorities.”
The update highlights that, while the RSS itself does not contest elections, it supports BJP campaigns and had deployed volunteers on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It notes that Modi was once an RSS youth member and recalls the allegations he faced over his handling of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.
The brief also refers to recent reports that the RSS has begun a lobbying initiative in the US. Disclosures filed with the US government show that the firm Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) received $330,000 in the first three quarters of 2025 to represent the RSS’s interests in the US Senate and House of Representatives.
USCIRF’s update again flags the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which fast-tracks citizenship for certain persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries but excludes Muslims. It also says Article 295A of the Penal Code operates effectively as a blasphemy law and cites strict anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws in several states that carry hefty penalties.
The report states that hundreds of Muslims and Christians have been arrested under anti-conversion laws, adding that 70% of undertrials in India’s prisons are pre-trial detainees, with minorities disproportionately represented.
It references cases like that of Umar Khalid, imprisoned since 2020 for protesting the CAA, as examples of prolonged incarceration without trial.
On governance, the brief states that India’s federal structure—where state governments control law enforcement and the Central Bureau of Investigation requires state permission to probe local cases—creates “limited accountability” for abuses and contributes to inadequate responses to mob violence against Muslims and Christians.
In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF once again recommended that the US State Department designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” for “systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.” The recommendation remains unacted upon by the State Department.
The bipartisan, Congress-backed body said that ties between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have shaped legislation that restricts the rights of non-Hindu communities.
According to the update, “the implementation of national and state-level laws create severe restrictions on religious freedom across the country.”
The Union government has not yet issued a response to the latest brief, though after USCIRF’s 2025 annual report in March, the Ministry of External Affairs had dismissed the commission’s assessment as “biased and politically motivated.”
The brief concluded that “despite offering some constitutional protections for FoRB (Freedom of Religion or Belief), India’s political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities.”
It said the “interconnected relationship” between the BJP and the RSS, described as a “Hindu nationalist group”, has contributed to the “creation and enforcement of several discriminatory pieces of legislation, including citizenship, anti-conversion, and cow slaughter laws.”
Since 2014, the BJP has “enforced sectarian policies seeking to establish India as an overtly Hindu state, in contrast with the secular principles of the constitution.”
USCIRF asserted that the enforcement of these laws “disproportionately targets and impacts religious minorities and their ability to freely practice their religion or belief as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a signatory.”
It added that “The RSS’s primary mission is to build a ‘Hindu Rastra,’ or Hindu state,” and that the organisation “promotes the notion that India is a Hindu nation, excluding Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Parsis, and other religious minorities.”
The update highlights that, while the RSS itself does not contest elections, it supports BJP campaigns and had deployed volunteers on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It notes that Modi was once an RSS youth member and recalls the allegations he faced over his handling of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.
The brief also refers to recent reports that the RSS has begun a lobbying initiative in the US. Disclosures filed with the US government show that the firm Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) received $330,000 in the first three quarters of 2025 to represent the RSS’s interests in the US Senate and House of Representatives.
USCIRF’s update again flags the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which fast-tracks citizenship for certain persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries but excludes Muslims. It also says Article 295A of the Penal Code operates effectively as a blasphemy law and cites strict anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws in several states that carry hefty penalties.
The report states that hundreds of Muslims and Christians have been arrested under anti-conversion laws, adding that 70% of undertrials in India’s prisons are pre-trial detainees, with minorities disproportionately represented.
It references cases like that of Umar Khalid, imprisoned since 2020 for protesting the CAA, as examples of prolonged incarceration without trial.
On governance, the brief states that India’s federal structure—where state governments control law enforcement and the Central Bureau of Investigation requires state permission to probe local cases—creates “limited accountability” for abuses and contributes to inadequate responses to mob violence against Muslims and Christians.
In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF once again recommended that the US State Department designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” for “systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.” The recommendation remains unacted upon by the State Department.
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