USCIRF URGES WASHINGTON TO SHUN RSS LEADERS AHEAD OF BHAGWAT’S VISIT, SANCTIONS OVER ATTACKS ON MINORITIES

Thu 20 August 2026:

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged Washington to withhold high-level engagement and diplomatic courtesies from RSS leaders ahead of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s planned visit to the United States, while reiterating its call for sanctions against RSS members found responsible for attacks on religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims.

USCIRF Chair Dr Asif Mahmood said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of the RSS, describing it as an umbrella organisation whose affiliated groups have allegedly carried out attacks against religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims.

“India’s PM Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian umbrella organization whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities, incl. Christians & Muslims. Now the RSS leader, Mohan Bhagwat, plans to visit the U.S.,” Mahmood said.

Chair @DrMahmood40: “India’s PM Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian umbrella organization whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities, incl. Christians & Muslims. Now the RSS leader, Mohan Bhagwat, plans to visit the U.S.”

— USCIRF (@USCIRF) August 19, 2026

USCIRF Commissioner Gene Mills called on Washington to withhold high-level engagement with RSS leaders, saying they should not receive diplomatic courtesies and urging US authorities to instead consider sanctions against individuals responsible for religious freedom violations.

The USCIRF’s 2026 annual report recommends that the US designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” and impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), over alleged responsibility for or tolerance of severe religious freedom violations.

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The commission also recommended that the US freeze the assets of sanctioned individuals or entities and bar them from entering the country, link future US security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom, and halt arms sales to India under the Arms Export Control Act.

The report said religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate in 2025, citing discriminatory legislation, attacks by Hindu nationalist mobs against Muslims and Christians, and measures affecting minority religious institutions. It specifically cited the 2025 Waqf law and Uttarakhand’s USAME Act among measures that affected minority institutions.

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The commission also documented the use of anti-conversion laws, which it said had been strengthened in several states with broader definitions and harsher penalties. It noted that 12 of India’s 28 states maintain anti-conversion laws and said several states introduced or strengthened such laws in 2025.

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The USCIRF is a bipartisan US federal government entity established under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which monitors religious freedom conditions worldwide and makes policy recommendations to the US president, secretary of state and Congress.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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