A pretty harsh report on India by the US state department.
US State Dept report calls India a flawed democracy
Press Trust of India
Washington, February 26
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_587238,0008.htm
India is a “flawed” democracy with allegations of corruption influencing court decisions and violence during elections, the US State Department says in its annual human rights report released on Wednesday.
Deep-rooted tension between Hindus on the one hand and Muslims and Christians on the other remained a challenge to its secular formation, the report adds.
The leading party in the government coalition, the report noted, is the BJP, “a Hindu nationalist political party with links to Hindu extremist groups that were implicated in violent acts against Christians and Muslims.”
However, it adds, “the BJP is an independent political party and the degree of RSS influence over its policy-making was not clear.”
Among India’s shortcomings it finds are violence in some of the elections; allegations that corruption influenced court decisions; police atrocities; atrocities by both government forces and militants, including foreign militants, in Kashmir and elsewhere and restrictions on religious and academic freedom.
In its 71 closely typed pages, the report alleged that it was reported that members of the BJP, the RSS and other affiliated organizations “harassed and at times threatened the use of violence against Christians and Muslims.”
“The BJP and RSS officially expressed respect and tolerance for other religions. However, the RSS in particular opposes conversions from Hinduism and believes that all citizens should adhere to Hindu cultural values. The BJP officialy agrees that the caste system should be eliminated, but many of its members are ambivalent about this,” the report said.
“Tension between Muslims and Hindus, and between Hindus and Christians,” the report said, “continued to pose a challenge to the secular foundation of the State.”
Some government officials, the report claimed, continued to advocate “saffronizing,” or raising the profile of Hindu cultural norms and views in public education, which has prompted criticism from minority leaders, opposition politicians, academics and advocates of secular values.
The report particularly mentioned Human Resources Development Ministry “passing strict guidelines to regulate academic partnerships between Indian and Western universities in line with Hindutva philosophy.”