EXCLUSIVE: Policy Group Urges Trump to Get India to Respect Religious Liberty

The Advancing American Freedom Foundation (AAF) is urging the Trump administration to make trade negotiations with India dependent upon the country respecting religious liberty. The Trump team is in talks with the South Asian nation and has hit the country with tariffs over its decision to continue buying Russian oil.

“The United States must condition any trade deal with India on repealing anti-conversion laws and respecting religious minorities,” the conservative policy shop said in a statement. 

AAF, founded by former Vice President Mike Pence and led by former executive director of Heritage Action Tim Chapman, explains in its policy agenda that it is guided by the idea that, “that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Trump administration has tied its foreign policy to support for principles like free speech and fair elections as articulated by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in February. 

“In Congress, the appropriate committees should conduct corresponding investigations, ensuring that any foreign aid to India is conditioned in keeping with the International Religious Freedom Act,” AAF said in a statement.

President Donald Trump brought up the issue of religious liberty with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term in 2020. 

“We did talk about religious freedom, and I will say that the prime minister was incredible on what he told me,” Trump said to journalists at the time. “He wants people to have religious freedom, and very strongly.”

AAF accuses India’s government of persecuting religious minorities including Christians through anti-conversion laws and shielding violent vigilantes.

According to the Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, anti-Christian violence and persecution quadrupled in the country over the last decade and is on pace to set a record of incidents of anti-Christian violence and intimidation this year.

In June, a Christian family was reportedly driven from their home and village located in the state of Chhattisgarh by a mob after they refused to convert to Hinduism. In April, approximately 45 people from almost a dozen Christian families were also reportedly threatened, attacked, and removed from their homes in Chhattisgarh. 

“They showed no mercy to elderly, women and children. The assault was ruthless,” a caretaker for the wounded Christians in Chintalnar remarked. For example, in the northern India state of Uttar Pradesh, people who convert on an individual basis can be imprisoned for as long as five years and fined 15,000 Indian rupees ($180), and mass conversions can carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and 25,000 rupees. 

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India has publicly criticized law enforcement in India for failing to prosecute a member of Maharashtra state’s legislature who said those who attacked Christian missionaries should be rewarded financially. 

“We should keep prizes for those who bash up missionaries coming to convert people. Rs 5 lakh (500,000 rupees or $5,756 USD), should be declared for the first person thrashing such a missionary, the second one to be given Rs 4 lakh (400,000 rupees or $4,605 USD), while the third one to be given Rs 3 lakh (300,000 rupees or $3,454 USD) as prizes,” the legislator reportedly said. 

India is not the only country under fire for how it handles religious freedom. Members of Congress recently heard chilling testimony about Pakistan’s handling of mob violence against Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus. 

The White House and Embassy of India in the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Signal.

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