‘Religious freedom’ is an important issue in India for Donald Trump

US officials hope that this reception will be more than the honour given to any foreign leader in India in recent years.

People associated with the Trump administration also said that Trump’s visit to India, starting on Monday will help in reducing the growing trade differences between the two countries.

But on Friday, the statement of the Trump administration regarding the agenda of the proposed talks of both the countries have suddenly caught everyone’s eye.

An official of the Trump administration said, “I think President Trump will speak publicly and certainly in private conversations about our shared tradition about democracy and religious freedom. They will raise these issues, especially religious freedom.” There will be a talk on the issue. This is an important issue for this administration. “

Analysts are looking at this statement by linking it with the Muslim opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act in India and the National Citizenship Register.

An official of the Trump administration further said, “In his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Trump will draw attention to the fact that the world is looking towards India to uphold democratic traditions and respect for religious minorities. Of course this The Constitution of India also has — religious freedom, respect for religious minorities, and equal status for all religions. “

India and the United States, who have been close partners in political and strategic matters have imposed trade charges against each other in recent years.

For the past month, officials of both countries have been negotiating in this direction that a working agreement be reached, but no talks have been made on this.

The United States is seeking permission to enter India’s large poultry and dairy markets. India controls the prices of medical equipment sold here.

American technology companies are being asked to install their data storage units in India, but these companies say that this will increase their business expenses.

Prime Minister Modi is demanding the resumption of the business concessions to India, which was stopped by the Trump administration in 2019.

Along with this, India wants to sell its medicines and agricultural products unabated in American markets.

These are issues on which there are differences between the two countries. India says that the Trump administration should not weigh it on the scale of China, whose economy is five times bigger than India.

On Friday, an official of the Trump administration said that no workable business the deal is going to happen during the President’s visit to India.

“Washington still has a lot of concerns about the growing trade barriers in India. We want a solution to these concerns that we have not yet achieved.”

“These concerns have ended the business concessions being given to India. India has completely failed to give us fair and equal access to our market.”

Apart from this, the spokesperson of Rashtrapati Bhavan also spoke about the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan and President Trump’s mediation offer on Kashmir.

He said, “President Trump is very excited to reduce the tension between India and Pakistan. He will encourage the two countries to resolve differences through bilateral talks.” “We also believe that on the basis of the Pakistani effort to control the extremists on their land, the two countries can have a meaningful dialogue.”

US, agency has expressed concern over India’s CAA

Now only four days are left for US President Donald Trump’s visit to India. He is coming to India on 24 February. But just before his visit, a US agency has expressed concern over India’s citizenship amendment law and NRC in its report.

USCIRF, the US agency that tracks international religious freedom, released its annual report on Wednesday. It has been said in this report that the cases of religious persecution are increasing in India. The report about the citizenship amendment law and the NRC, which has been protesting in many cities in India, is also mentioned in the report and it has also been cited as an example of religious persecution in India.

The agency has placed India in the Tier-2 category in this annual report of 2019.

The US report says that NRC is a deliberate attempt to discriminate against Muslims. It is worth mentioning that after the final list of NRC was released in Assam, about 19 lakh people were excluded from it.

Earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Parliament that NRC will be implemented in the entire country but due to public opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a public meeting that at present his government has no intention of bringing NRC across the country.

The US report expresses concern over the citizenship amendment law passed in December 2019. According to the report, the concern of targeting Muslims with CAA has increased.

This bill talks about giving citizenship to non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The report claimed that after the implementation of the CAA in India, freedom of religious freedom has decreased there.

This report said that soon after the implementation of the CAA, large-scale protests started across India and the government took violent action against the protesters.

The report also pointed fingers at the National Population Register (NPR). The Modi government has decided to start the NPR update across the country from April 2020.

But people are also angry with him and people are saying that NPR is actually the first step of NRC and hence they will oppose it as well.

The US report states that there are apprehensions about NPR that this law is part of an effort to create a religious test for Indian citizenship and that it may cause widespread harm to Indian Muslims.

The USCIRF has recommended to the US government that one of its delegations be pressurized to allow India to travel and meet people to take stock of India’s situation.

The Commission has secondly recommended that work should be done with the Modi government to formulate a strategy to tackle crimes against minorities in India.

The USCIRF is an independent US government commission. It was established under the International Religious Freedom Act 1998, which monitors religious freedom worldwide. It inspects religious freedom by international standards and sends its recommendations to the US President and other government institutions.

The Indian Foreign Ministry has strongly objected to the statement of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The Indian Foreign Ministry says that the statement of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom is non-essential and this statement is also not accurate. READ MORE

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs says that the Citizenship Amendment Bill and the NRC process do not want to end the citizenship of an Indian citizen who believes in any religion.

According to Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ravish Kumar, “It is a matter of regret that the USCIRF spoke in a partisan manner in which it has no right to say anything.”

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has expressed concern over the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament.

In a press release, the Commission has said that if this bill is passed by Parliament, then the US government should consider banning the Home Minister of India Amit Shah and other prominent leaders.

Many opposition parties, including the Congress, have opposed it and have described it against the spirit of the Indian Constitution, while the government denies these allegations.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.