SW News: According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, there is a steady and alarming deterioration of fundamental rights in India, notably for religious and other minorities. During a hearing on Wednesday, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issue Fernand de Varennes told the US Commission for International Religious Freedom also known as USCIRF that the situation in India can be summarised in three words -- 'massive, systematic and dangerous'.

The USCIRF had announced that it would hold a hearing on religious freedom in India on September 20. India has previously rejected USCIRF reports that alleged violations of religious freedom in the country.

De Varennes claimed there is a "steady" and "alarming" erosion of fundamental rights, particularly of religious and other minorities in India, during his appearance before the USCIRF for the hearing on policy alternatives for furthering religious freedom in that nation.

“India risks becoming one of the world's main generators of instability, atrocities, and violence because of the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others. It is not just individual or local, it is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism,” he said.

The hearing comes on the heels of two successful bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden -- the official state visit of the Indian leader here in June and a bilateral meeting in New Delhi in September.

Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits, and Adivasis are allegedly subject to "increased levels of attacks and acts of intimidation" in India, according to USCIRF chair Abraham Cooper.

Cooper said that the national government has continued to suppress minority voices and those advocating on their behalf through surveillance, harassment, demolition of property, and detention under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. These trends and their implications for the US foreign policy should not be ignored.