BJP flays Govt’s permission to USCIRF visit on religious freedom

The BJP has termed the decision of the UPA government to allow a US-based Christian dominated religious freedom body to visit India to assess the human rights situation in the country as “politically motivated”.

“The US Commission on International Religious Freedom was never allowed to visit India. The permission was granted with a political motive to present an incorrect picture of India and it’s diversity,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

He said governments led by P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee never allowed such institutions to sit in judgment on India regarding human rights”.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been singled out in the Christian dominated USCIRF report on religious freedom as the only person denied entry to America under a special law. USCIRF is visiting Gujarat and Orissa.

Javadekar said the UPA government overruled objections raised by various officers who had objected to the”vitiated”method of reporting by the US-based body.

Modi’s name figures in the report despite the panel putting on hold the chapter on the status of religious freedom in India, saying this would be done after its team visits the country in June to gain perspective on Indian government’s response to allegations of communal violence in states like Gujarat and Orissa.