America
US makes about-turn with praise for Modi, but brickbats for BJP
Washington, April 30
Ten years after denying a
visa to Narendra Modi, the US has made an about-turn praising the Indian
prime minister for his statement in support of religious freedom, but
slammed ruling BJP politicians for religious intolerance.
"Since
the election, religious minority communities have been subject to
derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP)," the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) said in its 2015 annual report.
There have also been
"numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist
groups, such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishva Hindu Parishad,"
it said placing India in its Tier 2 list of countries for the seventh
year in a row.
"In 2015, high-ranking members of the ruling BJP
party, including the party's president Amit Shah, called for a
nationwide anti-conversion law."
But USCIRF, at whose
recommendation the State Department had revoked Modi's visa in 2005 for
his alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, on Thursday described,
Modi's statement on religious freedom as a "positive development".
"This
statement is notable given longstanding allegations that, as chief
minister of Gujarat in 2002, Modi was complicit in anti-Muslim riots in
that state," it said referring to his remarks at an event honouring
Indian Catholic saints in mid-February.
Modi's visa was revoked
under a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that makes any
foreign government official who "was responsible for or directly carried
out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom"
ineligible for a US visa.
"Prime Minister Modi remains the only person known to have been denied a visa based on this provision," USCIRF noted.
USCIRF
also referred to President Barack Obama's remarks on India's religious
freedom issues during his January visit to India and again in February
at the US National Prayer Breakfast that caused an uproar in India.
Obama,
it recalled "underscored the importance of religious freedom to India's
success, urging the country to not be asplintered along the lines of
religious faith".
The president described India as a "beautiful
country, full of magnificent diversity - but a place where, in past
years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by
other people of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs -
acts of intolerance that would have shocked (Mahatma) Gandhi ji, the
person who helped to liberate that nation," USCIRF noted.
Key Findings of the commission:
*
Despite the country's status as a pluralistic, secular democracy, India
has long struggled to protect minority religious communities or provide
justice when crimes occur, which perpetuates a climate of impunity.
* Incidents of religiously-motivated and communal violence reportedly have increased for three consecutive years.
*
States of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat,
Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan tend to
have the greatest number of religiously-motivated attacks and communal
violence incidents.
* Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
religious leaders, including from the Muslim, Christian, and Sikh
communities, attributed the initial increase to religiously-divisive
campaigning in advance of the country's 2014 general election.
*
Christian NGOs and leaders report that their community is particularly
at risk in states that have adopted "Freedom of Religion Act(s)",
commonly referred to as anti-conversion laws.
* There are reports
that some evangelical groups use tactics that are unethical and
insulting to Hinduism and Hindus, which exacerbate religious and
communal tensions.
"Based on these concerns, USCIRF again places
India on its Tier 2 list of countries, where it has been since 2009,"
the report said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])