USCIRF's comments on Citizenship Bill will have no bearing on US-India ties, says Michael Kugelman

Trigunayat said, "Whatever is happening in India, it is an internal matter. As the Ministry of External Affairs has clearly said that these are ill-informed people who have been doing it with prejudices. The United States agencies and these kinds of organisations work under certain pressure group and that is how their democracy functions."

Kugelman said, "First, this US Commission does not set policy including policy on India. It has no bearing on the direction of US-India relations or US policy towards India. This commission or USCIRF as we call here, it is meant to do exactly what it has done with this statement about the citizenship bill in India. It is meant to bring attention to what it perceives to be threats to religious freedom or violations of religious freedom around the world. It has been critical of many countries in that regard including India previously. I would certainly acknowledge the criticism coming from India that it is rather hypocritical for US government agencies to be coming out with this type of criticism given the very real concerns about religious freedom and discrimination against religious minorities in the US."