Christians in India, some of whom were expecting that the visiting United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio would raise their appeal against the cancellation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licenses with the Narendra Modi government are really disappointed that he only murmured worshipful platitudes at the grave of Mother Teresa in Kolkata, and said even less during his meetings in Delhi. We do not know what he told Modi in private at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), but it is unlikely that the Indian government’s treatment of religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims, figured in talks that presumably focussed on the situation in Iran and the Gulf of Hormuz, Israel, and India’s strategic and defence trade relations with the United States which are a priority to both nations.More is the pity because, while he was in the national capital, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) frontal organisations working among Adivasis in central India were organising a massive rally at the Red Fort demanding the delisting of tribals, some of whom may have converted to Christianity 150 years ago, arguing that conversion to Christianity had nullified their claim to Scheduled Tribe reservations. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was giving them a benign hearing.For the past several years, major international bodies have consistently documented a troubling pattern in India: rising violence against Christians, attacks on churches, and systematic strangling of NGOs through laws like the FCRA. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the UN Human Rights Council, and European Union have all raised red flags on various occasions. The Country of Particular Concern (CPC) label is reserved for governments that engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedom. Despite this repeated, bipartisan warning from an independent federal commission, the state department has never acted on it though its own reports describe worsening conditions, including mob attacks on churches, pastors being beaten, paraded and jailed, prayer meetings disrupted, and anti-conversion laws used to target Christians, especially from Dalit and tribal communities.Also read: Rubio’s Visit to Missionaries of Charity Brings Modi Govt’s FCRA Into SpotlightThe USCIRF 2023 report highlighted the burning of over 250 churches during ethnic violence in Manipur, where Christian Kuki communities were targeted. It also noted how police sometimes stood by or even arrested victims on conversion charges instead of protecting them. Yet the White House has largely chosen to look the other way, prioritising strategic partnership, trade deals, and defence cooperation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.The US routinely documents incidents of violence against Christians, Muslims, and other communities independently of the records maintained by the spokespersons of the All India Catholic Union, the Evangelical Fellowship of India, and the United Christian Forum.Last Christmas, there were multiple reported incidents of desecration, disruption of prayers and festivities, and attacks on people dressed as Santa Claus or Father Christmas.The New York-based HRW has documented how Hindutva groups and individuals linked to the ruling ecosystem have orchestrated campaigns of fear. HRW reports detail church vandalism, assaults on pastors, and the weaponisation of “love jihad” and anti-conversion rhetoric. HRW slammed the FCRA as a tool to target peaceful critics. Between 2018 and 2022, India cancelled registrations of over 1,800 nonprofits. Christian organisations, including long-established ones, have lost FCRA licences, crippling their ability to receive foreign donations for humanitarian work, education, and health services. This amounts to the strangling of NGOs that serve the poorest communities — the very work Mother Teresa’s missionaries of charity became world-famous for.Mother Teresa’s missionaries of charity momentarily lost its FCRA licence to receive foreign donations, but the permission was restored posthaste following an international furore and reportedly a protest from the Vatican.UN mechanisms and EU statements have added their voices, and in the universal periodic reviews at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, several important countries have urged India to protect religious minorities, repeal discriminatory laws, and ensure accountability for violence. Also read: Hormuz Deal ‘Could Be Hours Away’, Says Rubio, Escalates Anti-Iran Rhetoric in DelhiThe EU has repeatedly expressed concerns about shrinking civic space and rising intolerance. To no one’s surprise, these critiques have had little visible impact on India or on US policy.India routinely rejects every single such report as based on half-truths from Indian NGOs, and direct interference in the country’s internal affairs, even though it is itself a major critic of several countries including Pakistan for their human rights record.In the past, the US had invoked its trade pacts to incorporate human rights concerns into them.Rubio’s stop at Mother Teresa’s grave in Kolkata was presented as a gesture of respect for humanitarian service, but it did not amount to anything more than a hollow opportunity, much as his visit to the Taj Mahal is not a condemnation of the Sangh’s Islamophobic rants against Mughal-era mosques and monuments.HRW’s tracking of NGO harassment, and UN concerns should be sufficient to explain that the persecution of religious minorities in India runs deeper than isolated incidents. Anti-conversion laws have shifted the burden of proof onto the accused with pastors by the dozen languishing in jails in Uttar Pradesh as district judges deny them bail and FCRA cancellations also mean that churches and institutions may now lose even their buildings, ambulances and other things they may have bought with foreign donations.Indian Christians understand geopolitical realities, and even the most pious Bishop knows India is critical for the US in balancing China in the Indo-Pacific, and now as an ally of Israel in the Gulf. Christians do not expect President Donald Trump to press too hard on religious freedom in India despite his reputation in the Indian church as a latter-day crusader for Christ.John Dayal is a former editor, member of the National Integration Council and past president, All India Catholic Union.