INDIA has hit back at the US state department's report on religious freedom calling it a "deeply biased" one that "is visibly driven by vote bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook".
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) told reporters on Friday (28) that the US report lacked understanding of India's social fabric and picked incidents selectively to advance narratives.
"As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks an understanding of India's social fabric and is visibly driven by votebank considerations and a prescriptive outlook," he said.
Read: India’s religious freedom under lens again as US report cites ‘concerning rise’ in minority bashing
According to him, the US state department's report also appeared to challenge the integrity of certain legal verdicts that courts in India have given.
"It has selectively picked incidents to advance a preconceived narrative as well. In some cases, the very validity of laws and regulations are questioned by the report," Jaiswal said.
He added that the US has even more stringent laws and would "surely not prescribe such solutions for itself".
Read: US religious freedom body condemns Bilkis Bano rape convicts’ early release: ‘Travesty of justice’
In his remarks at the release of the report on Wednesday (26), US secretary of state Antony Blinken said there has been a "concerning increase" in anti-conversion laws, hate speech and demolitions of homes and places of worship of members of minority faith communities in India.
The report also cited violence in the north-eastern state of Manipur that started in May last year between minority, mostly Christian, Kuki and majority, mostly Hindu, Meitei ethnic groups. The disturbance has resulted in many deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction of property.
Jaiswal said human rights and respect for diversity have been and continue to be a legitimate subject of discussion between India and the US.
"We therefore reject it. The exercise itself is a mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective usage of facts, reliance on biased sources and a one-sided projection of issues," he said about the report.
Last year, India officially took up with the US several cases of hate crimes and racial attacks on Indian nationals and people from minority communities, besides vandalisation of places of worship and mistreatment by law-enforcement officials.
(With agency inputs)
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