WASHINGTON — Indian Christians have asked the United States to do more to protect religious rights in India, where a resurgence of attacks against religious minorities has been reported.
At a meeting with State Department officials on Capitol Hill Aug. 8, Bishop Ezra Sargunam, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Church of India, submitted a memorandum on behalf of the Social Justice Movement of India highlighting alleged human rights violations.
Noting that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has changed tactics toward religious minorities by introducing legislation such as the Anti-Conversion Law, which punishes Indians who convert to Christianity by revoking the rights and privileges accorded to certain tribes and castes upon their conversion, Sargunam asked U.S. officials to exert pressure on the Indian government to counter the “dangerous trend.”
The U.S. administration's reluctance to address the continuing human rights violations against religious minorities, Dalits or members of the untouchable caste, and other oppressed groups have been a source of frustration for Indian Christians, Sargunam said.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has not been permitted to conduct an official visit to India, an official said.
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