India rejects critical US religious freedom report

New Delhi: Rejecting the latest US State Department report on international religious freedom that outlined alleged incidents of religious tension in India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday said India is proud of its secular credentials and is committed to tolerance and inclusion.

Responding to queries on the report, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion."

Questioning the locus standi of a foreign agency to comment on Indian citizens' rights, he said, "The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities.

We see no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights."

The report has set off a new spat before a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as it says Hindu groups had used "violence, intimidation, and harassment" against Muslims and low-caste Dalits to force a religion-based national identity.

Pompeo is set to arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday for a trip intended to strengthen ties, but already complicated by spats over trade tariffs, data protection rules, US visas for Indians and buying arms from Russia.

The US religious freedom report said groups claiming to protect cows - considered sacred by Hindus - have attacked Muslims and Dalits. Christians have also been targeted for proselytising since Modi came to power in 2014.

"Despite Indian government statistics indicating that communal violence has increased sharply over the past two years, the Modi administration has not addressed the problem," the report said.

The report consists of chapters by country, grouped into tiers, in which India is categorised in tier 2.

It highlights a 12 per cent decline in communal violence compared with the previous year.

The controversial revision of the National Register of Citizenship in northeastern state Assam, which could land millions of minorities stateless, also got noticed in the report.

The Indian foreign ministry rejected the report, saying there was no right "for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights".

"India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a long-standing commitment to tolerance and inclusion," spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.

"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities."

The United States has sought to boost ties with India as a counterweight to China, and both US President Donald Trump and Modi have highlighted their good relationship.

However, India last week imposed higher import tariffs on 28 US items in retaliation to Washington's recent withdrawal of trade privileges for New Delhi.

Pompeo wants to use his New Delhi trip to lay the ground for a Trump-Modi meeting at the G20 Summit in Osaka this month. It will be their first since Modi's new landslide election win last month.

Pompeo is also to give a speech on the future of the relationship between the two countries.