Growing Human Rights Violations in India: US

 US Secretary of State Anthony Blankenship has said that the United States is keeping an eye on "growing human rights violations" in India.

According to Reuters, in a joint press conference with US Secretary of Defense, Indian Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense on Monday, Secretary of State Anthony Blanken said he was in regular contact with Indian authorities on the issue of shared human rights values.

"We are also monitoring other disturbing issues in India, including the growing human rights violations by the government, police and prison authorities," he said.

During the press conference, Indian Foreign Minister SJ Shankar and Defense Minister Raj Singh spoke after the US Secretary of State, but they did not comment on human rights issues.

Anthony Blanken's statement on human rights violations in India came a few days after US House of Representatives member Alhan Omar questioned why the Biden administration was refraining from criticizing the Modi government on human rights.

Critics of Modi say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has been promoting religious divisions since coming to power in 2014.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, right-wing Hindu parties have launched attacks on minorities, saying they are trying to stop conversions.

Several Indian states have either passed laws against conversion or are considering them.

In 2019, the Indian government passed the Citizenship Act. Under the law, citizenship was to be granted to Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However, critics say the law violates the spirit of India's secular constitution.