‘In India, we see concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech...’: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns over the "increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities" in India.

He mentioned India in his speech on Wednesday after the US State Department released the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report.

Blinken said the report documents cases where violence is occurring at the societal level, "sometimes with impunity, and it also contributes to the repression of religious communities".

He cited India as an example, saying, "In India...Christian communities reported that local police aided mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion activities or stood by while mobs attacked them and then arrested the victims on conversion charges."

The 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom mentioned the Manipur ethnic violence and critical views around Prime Minister Narendra Modi's legal framework. This included the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), laws restricting religious conversions for all faiths and three new criminal laws.

Earlier in May, India rejected a similar report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The report had accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "reinforcing discriminatory nationalist policies" and termed the organisation "biased" with "political agenda."

The USCIRF had then alleged that the Indian government "failed to address" communal violence disproportionately affecting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Jews, and Adivasis (indigenous peoples) in 2023.

"The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is known as a biased organization with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report," news agency PTI quoted MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying.

"We really have no expectation that USCIRF will even seek to understand India's diverse, pluralistic and democratic ethos. Their efforts to interfere in the largest electoral exercise of the world will never succeed," he added.