The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended stringent restrictions on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in its new 2026 annual report. In this report, the Donald Trump administration has been asked to confiscate the properties of these organizations and impose a visa ban on them. At the same time, the Ministry of External Affairs of India has completely rejected this report and called it biased and motivated.
What are USCIRF’s main recommendations?
In its report, the Commission has talked about keeping India in the list of ‘Countries of Special Concern’ (CPC) for the seventh consecutive year. Along with this, the US government has been asked to ban the sale of arms to India under the ‘Arms Export Control Act’.
The Commission believes that future military and trade relations between India and the United States should be linked to improvements in religious freedom.
The report has raised questions on religious freedom citing the Waqf Amendment Bill and anti-conversion laws in the states.
Indian government’s response to this report
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has strongly opposed this report. Issuing a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that USCIRF is presenting an incorrect and selective picture of India.
He clearly said that this report is politically motivated and has no importance.
The commission was also advised to pay attention to the attacks on Hindu temples in America and the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants living there.
Is it necessary for the US government to accept these recommendations?
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US government commission that monitors religious freedom around the world. However, it is important to know that the recommendations of this commission are not binding on the US government or the White House.
This means that the US government is not forced to accept it. For the last several years, the US State Department has been ignoring the recommendations of this commission against India.
In India too, politics has intensified after this report and the opposition party Congress has raised the demand of banning RSS citing this report on social media.