By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has placed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma under renewed international scrutiny over allegations of anti-minority violence, hate speech and state-led targeting of Muslims.
During a hearing on religious freedom conditions held earlier this month, former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Stephen J. Rapp alleged that Assam and Uttar Pradesh has witnessed some of the “most serious abuses by state actors” against minorities in recent years.
Rapp alleged that Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam were being subjected to forced evictions, discriminatory policing and citizenship-related targeting. He argued that some of the actions described in the testimonies could potentially amount to crimes against humanity under international law.
Referring to political messaging by BJP leaders, Rapp cited a controversial video shared earlier this year by the BJP Assam unit’s social media account, which showed Sarma aiming a rifle while Muslim figures appeared in the crosshairs alongside slogans such as “No mercy” and “There is no forgiveness to Bangladeshis”.
The former diplomat compared the rhetoric to hate propaganda examined during prosecutions related to the Rwandan genocide, though he added that he did not currently find sufficient evidence of genocidal intent in Assam.
However, he said such messaging raised “the risk of genocide” and warranted urgent preventive action.
Rapp also raised concerns over police “encounter killings” in Assam and Uttar Pradesh, alleging that minorities were disproportionately affected in such operations.
The hearing also featured testimony from US-based researcher and rights advocate Raqib Hameed Naik, who alleged that Muslims, Christians and marginalised communities were facing increasing hostility, dispossession and institutional discrimination.
Naik, executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), urged the United States government to impose Global Magnitsky sanctions against Indian political leaders and organisations linked to what he described as systematic persecution of minorities.
In his testimony before the commission, Naik alleged that “state-led violence and dispossession” against Muslims had reached “an unprecedented scale”, particularly in Assam.
He told the panel that between 2021 and 2026, the Assam government had allegedly carried out at least 33 eviction drives that demolished more than 22,000 homes and displaced nearly 100,000 people, most of them Bengali-origin Muslims.
Naik claimed that nearly 40 per cent of the displacement took place in 2025 alone and warned that continued eviction operations could create one of the country’s largest internally displaced populations.
He also accused the Assam Chief Minister of repeatedly targeting Muslims through speeches and policies, citing remarks relating to demographic changes, electoral rolls and eviction drives.
The testimonies also raised concerns over anti-conversion laws in several BJP-ruled states, alleged punitive demolitions of Muslim-owned properties, and the use of security laws against dissenters and minorities.
Naik claimed that his organisation had documented more than 1,300 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims and Christians across 21 states in 2025, describing it as a 97 per cent increase compared to 2023.
He also alleged that social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X had become central to the spread of anti-minority hate speech and vigilante violence.
The hearing additionally examined allegations of transnational repression targeting activists and researchers critical of the Indian government.
Naik told the commission that his research initiatives, including Hindutva Watch and India Hate Lab, were blocked in 2024 through emergency orders that he is currently challenging before the Delhi High Court.
The witnesses urged the US government to impose sanctions against organisations including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, and called for the designation of India as a “Country of Particular Concern” under US religious freedom monitoring mechanisms.
Rapp also urged international institutions to independently investigate allegations relating to forced evictions, deportations and anti-minority violence in Assam and other states.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
Established under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, its primary role is to make non-binding foreign policy recommendations to the U.S. President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.