India flags ‘selective targeting’ afterUS body urges sanctions on R&AW, RSS

The Centre on Monday strongly rejected a recommendation by United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over alleged religious freedom violations and to impose targeted sanctions on the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Responding to the report, External Affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the government had taken note of USCIRF’s 2026 Annual report but “categorically reject(ed) its motivated and biased characterisation of India.”
“For several years now, USCIRF has persisted in presenting a distorted and selective picture of India, relying on questionable sources and ideological narratives rather than objective facts,” he said. He added that such repeated misrepresentations undermined the credibility of the commission. He also urged the body to instead reflect on incidents of vandalism and attacks on Hindu temples in the US and what he described as growing intolerance and intimidation of the Indian diaspora there.
USCIRF report urged the US government to designate India as a CPC for allegedly “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations.”
It also proposed targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, including R&AW and the RSS, such as freezing assets and barring entry into the United States.
The commission further recommended linking future US security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom. Additionally, it called on the US Congress to reintroduce and pass the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024, which would mandate annual reporting on alleged acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States.
In its assessment, the report claimed religious freedom conditions in India deteriorated in 2025, citing new legislation affecting religious minorities and efforts by several states to introduce or strengthen anti-conversion laws with harsher penalties.