The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday reacted to the US State Department's report on religious freedom, saying that it was "deeply biased" and lacked an understanding of India's social fabric.
It said that the criticism against India in the report was based out of selectively picked incidents, aimed at advancing "preconceived narratives". MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, "In some cases, the very validity of laws and regulations are questioned by the report."
"As in the past, the report is deeply biased, lacks an understanding of India's social fabric and is visibly driven by vote-bank considerations and a prescriptive outlook," Jaiswal said.
He further said, "Exercise mix of imputations, misrepresentations, selective use of facts and reliance on biased sources."
The MEA said that it "rejects" US State Department's report on religious freedom.
The External Affairs Ministry further said that the US' report targeted regulations that monitor the misuse of financial flows into the nation, suggesting burden of compliance unreasonable.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, while announcing the release of the latest report on Religious Freedom, highlighted the "concerning increase" in hate speech and anti-conversion laws in India.
In his remarks, Blinken said that religious freedom across the world is "still not respected" for millions of people. Including India, the report flags threat to religious freedom in around 200 countries.
"In India we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities," the top US diplomat said.
This comes in the backdrop of the recent row over INDIA bloc accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "hate speech" during the campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
Notably, the Election Commission of India had issued notices to both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress for campaigning along caste, community, language and religion.
It had directed BJP president JP Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to issue formal notes to star campaigners to correct their discourse, exercise care and maintain decorum.
"Commission’s unprecedented orders to BJP and INC in the wake of plummeting quality of campaigning led by their star campaigners," the EC had said.
(With PTI inputs)
