Staff Reporter :
A US government panel has recommended sanctions against India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), accusing it of involvement in serious violations of religious freedom and plots to assassinate Sikh separatists abroad.
In its 2025 annual report released on Tuesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said religious freedom in India “continued to deteriorate” last year, pointing to rising attacks and discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians. The panel also recommended that India be designated as a “country of particular concern,” the highest level of censure in its reporting framework.
The report singled out Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for spreading “hateful rhetoric and disinformation” during the 2024 election campaign. It highlighted the Indian government’s role in undermining religious pluralism, including through controversial laws and policies such as the Citizenship Amendment Act, anti-conversion laws, and the revocation of Kashmir’s special constitutional status.
Most notably, the panel urged the U.S. government to impose targeted sanctions not only on individuals like former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav-who has been charged in the U.S. in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist-but also on RAW as an institution.
While USCIRF’s recommendations are non-binding and rarely translate directly into U.S. foreign policy, they carry symbolic weight and can shape congressional and public discourse. The call for sanctions against a key Indian intelligence agency marks an unusual escalation in the commission’s annual reports, which have criticized India’s rights record for several years but stopped short of such explicit targeting of state bodies.
India reacted with sharp criticism on Wednesday, rejecting the report outright and accusing the USCIRF of harboring a politically driven agenda.
“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,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a statement. He called the report “deeply biased” and “politically motivated,” alleging that the commission had lost credibility.
Going further, the Indian government demanded that the U.S. consider designating USCIRF itself as an “entity of concern,” accusing the panel of distorting facts and repeatedly attacking India’s constitutional and pluralistic ethos.
New Delhi’s statement also questioned the legitimacy of USCIRF’s assessments. “Its pattern of selective and agenda-driven commentary raises serious questions about its authenticity,” the foreign ministry said.
The report and India’s reaction come at a time when Washington and New Delhi are deepening strategic ties, particularly in countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Analysts say that geopolitical interests have often led the U.S. to overlook India’s human rights record, though recent cases involving Sikh separatists in North America have strained the relationship.
In 2023, Washington charged Vikash Yadav, a former Indian intelligence officer, with involvement in an assassination plot targeting a Sikh activist in the U.S.-a case that has since become a thorn in bilateral ties. India has denied involvement and insists that Sikh separatism poses a genuine security threat.
The U.S. State Department, which produces its own annual report on religious freedom, has also flagged concerns about rising intolerance in India, though it has stopped short of recommending sanctions or altering diplomatic engagement.
While it remains unlikely that the Biden administration will act on USCIRF’s call to sanction RAW, the recommendation is expected to fuel ongoing debates in Washington about how to balance human rights concerns with strategic interests in India.
