Religious Freedom In India Takes 'Drastic Turn Downward,' U.S. Commission Says

Religious freedom in India under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken "a drastic turn downward," according to the U.S. government commission that monitors conditions around the world.

In its annual report, the congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says the Indian government's enactment last year of the Citizenship Amendment Act discriminated against Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Commission vice chairperson Nadine Maenza, appointed by President Trump, said in a press conference that the deterioration of religious freedom in India was "perhaps the steepest and most alarming" of all the negative developments identified around the world. The commission accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having "allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence."