US religious freedom panel urges sanctions against India's RSS during chief's US visit

A U.S. panel on religious freedom has expressed concern about a visit to the U.S. ‌by the chief of the Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological parent of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and urged sanctions on the group's members.

Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is on a U.S. ‌visit and is scheduled to speak at a Saturday event in New York City. The RSS, a ‌powerful Hindu group from which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP emerged, said in May it had organized foreign visits to counter perceptions it is a paramilitary outfit involved in attacks on minorities.

"We urge the U.S. government to consider targeted sanctions against RSS ⁠members and ​Indian officials complicit in ⁠religious freedom violations, including revoking the visa issued to Mohan Bhagwat," Asif Mahmood, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, ⁠said in a statement on Wednesday. USCIRF is a bipartisan body of the U.S. government that monitors religious freedom around the ​world and makes policy recommendations, which are not binding. Washington has not imposed sanctions after recent recommendations.

India's ⁠foreign ministry has dismissed the panel's assertions, casting USCIRF as biased against India. Rights groups say the RSS promotes majoritarian ideology fueling intolerance ⁠towards ​minorities.

The RSS disputes being intolerant and says it is a "Hindu centric civilisational, cultural movement" that wants to take India "to the pinnacle of glory," including by uniting Hindus. U.N. and human rights groups say ⁠abuse of Indian minorities has risen in recent years.

They point to rising hate speech, a religion-based citizenship law, ⁠the demolition of Muslim-owned ⁠properties, the removal of Muslim-majority Kashmir's autonomy and an anti-conversion legislation that challenges freedom of belief. India's BJP-led government denies being discriminatory and says its policies, including food ‌subsidy programs and electrification ‌drives, benefit all communities.