India Condemns US Commission Over Alleged Religious Violence Claims

The Ministry of External Affairs of India rejected claims from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that vigilante attacks have targeted Sikh gurdwaras in India. During a media briefing in New Delhi, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal labeled the USCIRF a "biased and ill-informed organisation with a blatantly political agenda," arguing that a prejudiced entity cannot be taken seriously.

This diplomatic friction follows statements from USCIRF Commissioners David Anderson and Joe Grogan, who urged the U.S. government to press India to hold perpetrators of violence against houses of worship accountable. Anderson suggested that the U.S. should link security assistance to the Indian government's response to these incidents. These developments follow a previous request in August for the U.S. to sanction the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

India countered these accusations by highlighting the USCIRF's silence regarding racial abuse and attacks on religious sites within the United States. Jaiswal specifically pointed to a foiled October 2026 plot in Aurora, Illinois, where a neo-Nazi attempted to shoot a man outside the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple. While 105 U.S. lawmakers urged the FBI to investigate the temple incident as a federal hate crime, India maintains that the commission ignores similar domestic violence targeting the Indian community.