NEW YORK: The renowned US-based think tank Freedom House has once again rated India as only a “partly free” nation in its recently released Freedom in the World 2023 assessment, saying that “the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting the Muslim population.”
Ranking India at only 66 out of 100 nations in terms of democratic freedoms, Freedom House raised concerns about the illegal bulldozing of Muslim-owned homes and businesses, attacks on press freedoms, laws criminalizing religious conversion and interfaith marriage, religious violence encouraged by lawmakers, and “harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and other government critics.”
The report also slammed the rise of Hindu supremacism or Hindu nationalism, stating that the Modi government has been accused of “encouraging… anti-Muslim views.”
“Attacks against Muslims and others in connection with the alleged slaughter or mistreatment of cows, which are held to be sacred by Hindus, continued in 2022. The BJP has faced criticism for failing to mount an adequate response to cow-related violence,” the report said. (IAMC)
