IAMC lauds USCIRF’s call to sanction RSS for “severe violations of religious freedom” amid 7th consecutive CPC recommendation for India
Washington, D.C. (March 4, 2026) — The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has lauded the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) historic recommendation that the US State Department impose targeted sanctions on India’s largest Hindu supremacist paramilitary group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for its “responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom” against religious minorities. The recommendation came as part of USCIRF’s 2026 Annual Report.
“By recommending that the State Department impose sanctions on the RSS, USCIRF recognizes what so many Indian Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits have been warning for decades: that the RSS is an organization responsible for terrorizing generations of minorities and laying waste to India’s secular democracy,” said IAMC President Mohammed Jawad. “IAMC urges the State Department to act upon all of the recommendations made by USCIRF in its 2026 Annual Report regarding India’s deteriorating religious freedoms.”
USCIRF further recommended that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), along with other individuals and entities responsible for the normalization of anti-minority violence, be sanctioned. Additionally, the body recommended India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its severe violations of human rights and religious freedoms for the seventh consecutive year, a designation reserved for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
In the report, USCIRF highlighted several discriminatory policies enacted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political wing of the RSS, that contributed to rising violence against primarily Muslims and Christians. These included illegal and inhumane deportations of Bengali-speaking and Rohingya Muslims, the targeting of Muslim places of worship through the Waqf Bill, and unlawful detentions of those deemed “illegal” immigrants. USCIRF also noted the continuation of Hindu supremacist mob violence, including lynchings, against Muslims and Christians.
IAMC echoes USCIRF for the seventh year in a row in calling on the US Department of State to immediately act on the Commission’s recommendations and hold the Indian government accountable for escalating a climate of anti-minority violence and hatred. IAMC also urges the US government to designate the RSS as a foreign terrorist group under the relevant laws given its lengthy history of involvement in massacres, lynchings, hate crimes, and other acts of violence.
For those interested in speaking with IAMC experts on deteriorating human rights and religious freedoms in India, please contact: media.info@iamc.com
