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By Kanishka Singh and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. panel on religious freedom said on Tuesday the treatment of minorities in India is deteriorating and it recommended sanctions be imposed on India's external spy agency over its alleged involvement in plots to assassinate Sikh separatists.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also said in its annual report that communist-ruled Vietnam had stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended Vietnam be designated a "country of particular concern".
"In 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise," the commission said in the report released on Tuesday.
Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities" during last year's election campaign, it said.
India dismissed the report on Wednesday, calling it part of a pattern of "biased and politically motivated assessments".
"The USCIRF's persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India's vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
Washington has sought to build close ties with both India and Vietnam given their shared concerns about China's rising influence in Asia. Analysts say that as result Washington has overlooked human rights issues.
Since 2023, India's alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the U.S. and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in U.S.-India ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, in a foiled plot. India labels Sikh separatists as security threats and has denied involvement.
Modi in April last year referred to Muslims as "infiltrators" who have "more children".
U.S. State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom have noted minority abuses in recent years. New Delhi calls them "deeply biased".
Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014, denies discrimination and says his government's policies like electrification drives and subsidy schemes help all communities.
Rights advocates point to rising hate speech, a citizenship law the U.N. called "fundamentally discriminatory," anti-conversion legislation that critics say challenges freedom of belief, the revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir's special status and the demolition of properties owned by Muslims.
The panel recommended the U.S. government designate India as a "country of particular concern" for religious freedom violations and impose targeted sanctions against Yadav and India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service.
The commission is a bipartisan U.S. government advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations.
But it is unlikely the U.S. government will sanction RAW as the panel's recommendations are not binding.
SERIOUS VIOLATIONS
On Vietnam, the panel said a new decree issued this month allowed Vietnamese authorities to further demand financial records from religious organizations and suspend religious activities for what the report said were vaguely worded "serious violations".
As of December, the U.S. panel's Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List included over 80 prisoners whom the Vietnamese government punished for religious activities or religious freedom advocacy.
The Vietnamese embassy had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and David Brunnstrom in Washington; additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Stephen Coates and Angus MacSwan)
