SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
New Delhi: Calling it a “biased” organisation, India on Friday, August 12, sought to brush aside the call given by the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for sanctions against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“We are all aware that the organisation—or entity—you are referring to is biased,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a press briefing.
He said that for years, the USCIRF has been making “disparaging and inflammatory remarks about India” and advised everyone to steer clear of such groups since they operate with their “own agendas and lack of credibility or trustworthiness”.
The US advisory body chairperson Asif Mahmood, on Thursday, July 20, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of the RSS, which he went on to describe as an umbrella organisation whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities.
“India’s PM Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian umbrella organisation whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities, incl. Christians & Muslims. Now the RSS leader, Mohan Bhagwat, plans to visit the US,” Mahmood said. The comment was shared on the USCIRF X account.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is set to visit the US to participate in the ‘Universal Oneness Celebrations’ organised by the American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD) in New York on August 29.
USCIRF Commissioner Gene Mills had also criticised the RSS leadership, saying even when affiliated with the Indian government, the right-wing group’s leaders should not be honoured with high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies.
“Instead, the USG (US Government) should focus on imposing sanctions on RSS members found responsible for FoRB (freedom of religious belief) violations,” Mills had said. The USCIRF shared this as well on its X account.
Earlier, in March, the USCIRF annual report criticised India for alleged violations of religious freedom and backed “targeted sanctions” on individuals and entities such as the RSS and Research and Analysis Wing, holding them responsible for the matter.
India rejected the USCIRF report, saying that the organisation has persistently presented a “distorted and selective” picture of the country that relies on “questionable sources and ideological narratives”.
SOURCE : SIASAT
