US religious freedom commission calls for sanctions against India’s RSS

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged the US government to impose sanctions on India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), citing allegations of attacks on religious minorities linked to groups affiliated with the organisation.

USCIRF chairman Asif Mahmood, a Pakistani-American, has also opposed a planned visit to New York by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and called on the US government to deny diplomatic privileges to RSS leaders, according to international media reports.

Bhagwat is scheduled to visit New York on August 29.

The commission has further called for sanctions against RSS members allegedly involved in violations of religious freedom.

USCIRF said groups affiliated with the RSS had faced allegations of attacks against religious minorities.

The commission is an independent, bipartisan US federal body that makes policy recommendations on religious freedom to the US president, secretary of state and Congress.

In March, USCIRF also recommended targeted sanctions against the RSS, as well as certain individuals and organisations, including India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in its annual report on religious freedom.

The commission had additionally recommended that India be designated a “country of particular concern” over religious freedom.

The designation is a US policy classification for countries considered to have engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

India rejected the commission’s recommendations.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal accused USCIRF of making “derogatory and provocative” statements about India, stating that New Delhi had no reason to expect the commission to recognise the country’s multicultural system.

Jaiswal said India should distance itself from such institutions, arguing that they had neither their own agenda nor credibility.

The latest recommendations come ahead of Bhagwat’s planned New York visit, placing renewed focus on the RSS and allegations concerning religious freedom in India.

USCIRF’s recommendations are advisory and are directed towards the US administration and Congress as part of the commission’s mandate on international religious freedom.