On Friday, June 28, India strongly criticized a recent report by the United States, labeling it as “deeply biased” and lacking a true understanding of India’s social fabric. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) claimed the report was driven by vote bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook, and it highlighted several incidents of hate crimes, racial attacks, and the targeting of places of worship against Indians in the US. MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that the US State Department’s 2023 religious freedom report on India was biased and rejected it outright.
Jaiswal pointed out that the report contained a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective use of facts, and reliance on biased sources, leading to a one-sided projection of issues. He argued that the report selectively picked incidents to advance a preconceived narrative and even questioned the validity of Indian laws and regulations, as well as the integrity of certain legal judgments by Indian courts. The report also targeted regulations that monitor financial flows into India, suggesting that compliance burdens were unreasonable, a point Jaiswal found hypocritical given the US’s own stringent regulations.
Furthermore, Jaiswal emphasized that India has raised numerous cases in the US regarding hate crimes, racial attacks on Indian nationals and other minorities, vandalization and targeting of places of worship, and mistreatment by law enforcement authorities. He stressed that while human rights and respect for diversity are legitimate subjects of discussion between India and the United States, such dialogue should not permit foreign interference in domestic matters.
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