We saw how the Congress and the Left were manipulating the system for their own ambitions – one to facilitate corruption and the other to entrench ideological hegemony. I also tried to explain how the two joined hands due to fear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what would happen if he gets a third term.
The biggest support to the Congress ecosystem has come from NGOs that have been at the receiving end due to the Modi government’s efforts to ensure transparency and accountability of these organisations. More than 20,000 NGOs, including Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have had their registrations revoked for refusing to commit to complying with the country’s law.
Even if we conclude that one NGO would employ at least five people, this would create enormous power if these NGOs were funded by foreign donors who want to manipulate the Indian system for their own benefit. While India is praised for its strong democratic institution and rule of law, many countries are increasingly realizing that doing business in India and running their operations from here is safer than an uncertain future in China or other countries that may face significant risk. It thrives on dictatorship of all kinds based on ideology or military force.
Vested interests will try to project India as a land of conflict and will use all assets including gullible politicians, NGOs and media to show India in a bad light. And no less than the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who criticized foreign-backed NGOs for “stalling the use of genetic engineering in agriculture and leading protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.”
India faced a similar situation in 2020-21 when farmers started protesting against the three farm laws without showing any keenness to discuss the merits or otherwise of the issue. The government showed maturity and withdrew the legislation in the interest of national security and national integration, but it remains inexplicable why environment activist Greta Thunberg and pop singer Rihanna tweeted their support for the farmers’ agitation. They worked as hired killers and became part of the toolkit in the hands of anti-India groups. Prime Minister Modi rightly said that there is an international conspiracy to defame India.
These NGOs theoretically perform the important function of relaying government policies to the last person and providing feedback to make the system more transparent. Sometimes they act as advocacy groups for the poor and oppressed to hold the government to account. But there are many vested interests working under the guise of these NGOs and encouraging subversive activities aimed at endangering India’s sovereignty.
All these NGOs funded by foreign donors are subject to the FCRA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act). Since this includes foreign exchange, a careful record must be kept to track whether the money is clean and comes from known sources, through the hawala route, or is funded by questionable organizations. A record of the purpose of the funds must also be kept so that a track can be kept of whether expenditures are incurred in accordance with the donor’s mandate.
Foreign financing is subject to disclosure of the source of financing and how it is disbursed. This is to ensure that the funds are not misused. Many NGOs that act as umbrella NGOs will sponsor smaller NGOs with liberal funding and push them onto the streets when the time comes to oppose particular interests and advance their own interests. This has become the standard practice for most of these NGOs. Often times, naive people who come to the streets don’t even realize what they are protesting for.
The new FCRA law, which took effect on September 29, 2020, prohibits anyone in the following category from accepting foreign financing: election candidates, editor or publisher of a newspaper, judges, government employees, members of any legislative body, political parties, and public servants. Another provision in the new law prevents recipients of foreign funds from transferring them to another entity. Another provision in the law raised administrative expenses from 50 percent to 20 percent. An FCRA account can only be opened with SBI. These provisions in the new law have attempted to make the NGO regime under the FCRA more transparent and accountable.
These NGOs finance foreign trips of leading intellectuals (mostly leftists) to create an ecosystem. Some of the prominent anti-Modi government voices, heard in TV debates or read about in various newspaper columns, were among those who were regular beneficiaries of the largesse of these NGOs. Let us not forget that these NGOs have mobilized the support of Indian parliamentarians to write to Barack Obama not to grant a visa to Modi. 65 parliamentarians had written a letter to Obama in 2012 asking him to continue the no-visa policy for Modi. These NGOs have been actively involved in portraying Modi in a bad light.
The direct attack on black money generation was the decision to shut down more than four companies that were used as shell companies and operated to generate money. More than three thousand directors have been disqualified from being directors again due to their failure to maintain compliance and participate in various other activities.
All those who have suffered because of this cannot believe that the country is on the path to a course correction where honest taxpayers will be rewarded and those who try to subvert the system punished. They are influential people and most of them are part of the elite. Modi has upset their balance with the system.
The writer is the convenor of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson in televised debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. The above article is an excerpt from the author’s new book, Transforming India: Game Changing in Action. The opinions expressed in the above article are personal and belong to the author only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of News18.