Ahead of his virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 12, US President Joe Biden has been exhorted by American civil rights organizations, the Indian Muslim American Council (IAMC) and Hindus for Human Rights (HFHR), to raise the issue of “increasing persecution of religious minorities” in India, especially Muslims, Christians and Dalit.
In a media statement, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) said, “The Biden administration has disappointingly failed to address the issue of human rights violations in India and this is the opportunity to right that wrong.”
Similarly, Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), in a statement said that by not speaking up “explicitly on India’s increasing attacks on minorities and human rights defenders”, President Biden is emboldening the Modi administration to “escalate such persecution.”
President of Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA, Roja Singh, also said there is a sharp increase in Dalit attacks during Modi’s eight year rule and yet the US watches as a mute spectator. “The US has a duty to raise the issues of attacks on Dalits and the failure of the Indian criminal justice system to bring them relief,” she said, according to the HFHR’s release.
For two years the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has appealed to the US Department of State Designation to nominate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). That is to declare India as one of the worst offenders of religions in the world.
However, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declined it.
Last week, US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, in her speech slammed the Biden administration for its failure to hold the Indian government accountable for widespread religious persecution. She said, “Why has the Biden administration been so reluctant to criticize Modi’s government on human rights? What will it take for us to outwardly criticize the actions that the Modi administration is taking against its Muslim minorities in India?”
Several US lawmakers, including Senators Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, and Bob Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, have repeatedly slammed the Modi’s government for its violence against minority community. They demanded the US Government take swift action against it.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as well as other Hindu extremist such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, have been carrying out a vicious attacks on Muslims, Christians and Dalits with impunity.
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