No data is available with the Union government on the attacks on minorities in the country, Union Minority Affairs Minister Smirti Irani told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Law and order is a state subject and specific data on attacks against any individual community is not maintained centrally, Irani said in response to a question by Rajya Sabha member Abdul Wahab on whether there has been a rise in attacks on minorities in India.
Wahab, who belongs to the Indian Union Muslim League, had asked what measures have been taken by the government to ensure the protection of minorities from attacks. He had also questioned whether the government has any data on the attack against institutions that belong to minority communities and if so, their details.
This comes amid India’s Muslim minority has been facing mob violence and attacks by right-wing Hindu groups.
In July this year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report which documents major instances of violations of religious freedom across the world. The report’s 27-page chapter on India is a scathing indictment of the sharp decline in religious freedom in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s watch.
“Government action, including the continued enforcement of anti-conversion laws against non-Hindus, has created a culture of impunity for nationwide campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups, including against Muslims and Christians accused of conversion activities,” the report reads.
