Such cases have increased the legal need to keep a close watch on and rein in the activities of domestic and foreign NGOs operating in India.
New Delhi: Delay in getting justice does not only trouble the common citizen, it can be troublesome for the personal, political, and social lives of leaders, up to the level of the Chief Minister and Prime Minister. It was indeed a very important and serious matter in which the country’s top leader, Narendra Modi, got justice from the court after about 19 years. Many convicts of the 2002 riots case in Gujarat were punished long ago, but some people, organizations, and politicians had made serious allegations against the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, for not taking timely action and provoking the perpetrators of the riots and the case was dragged to the Supreme Court. Now, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement of about 450 pages, has not only termed all the allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other allied leaders and officials as baseless and prejudicial, but has also convicted the complainants as conspirators and guilty. A three-judge special bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, while exonerating Modi and his associates, appreciated the proper detailed investigation by the SIT probing this serious matter and also concluded that some frustrated people made conspiratorial allegations and presented false evidence. The conspiracies of these elements should be investigated, and legal action should be taken against them. There is no doubt that the Special Investigation Team itself interrogated Chief Minister Narendra Modi for hours. Both Modi and his senior ally leader, Amit Shah, gave full cooperation in the investigation and did not try to obstruct the judicial process. On the other hand, leaders of opposition parties, and Citizens for Justice and Peace, an organisation of Teesta Setalvad, active in the name of human rights, filed a petition in court and presented manipulative allegations and evidence in this case, which, in the end, proved to be completely wrong. For the complete investigation of such a conspiracy, now the Gujarat Police have taken Teesta Setalvad into custody and have started her interrogation, as well as of other suspicious officers. The court’s decision and such cases have increased the legal need to keep a close watch on and rein in the activities of many domestic and foreign NGOs operating in India. Like Setalvad, the so-called contractors of human rights organisations are active. They blackmail governments or institutions by collecting crores of rupees in the form of donations through legitimate illegal means or by providing anti-India material support to some foreign powers or agencies.
Amnesty International has also sided with Teesta Setalvad, though it is itself in the midst of controversy. Russia, Israel, and Congo have imposed strict sanctions, while many countries like China, America, and Vietnam have been taking action against the “prejudicial activities” of Amnesty International, though influential leaders of the Congress or other parties had shed tears over the legal action taken on Amnesty in India. Even under the rule of Indira Gandhi, this organisation had been surrounded by controversies. At that time, a special report of about two pages, published in the 7 November 1982 issue of a leading Hindi weekly magazine, Dinman, was titled: “Is Amnesty International an intelligence organization?” In this report, serious allegations of suspicious activities and funding by this organisation were mentioned. My report read: “Amnesty International has been accused of being part of the intelligence organisations of imperialist countries.” There is also a serious allegation of working for a special intelligence agency of the British government. However, unnecessary things have been publicized about alleged human rights issues in India. Those pages of the magazine are still with me or can be found in a good library.
Recently, Amnesty International, like any company, announced the closure of its operations in India. The Enforcement Directorate ED has attached assets worth crores of Amnesty International India in a money laundering case and is investigating serious cases of misappropriation of foreign funds. Some of India’s journalists and well-known presenters on TV news channels are writing or narrating the “pain” of the government’s alleged excesses on human rights organisations, but they are not exposing the real facts. Everyone knows this and understands that international intelligence agencies, terrorist organizations, and illegal business organisations do business and money transactions under many pseudonyms. All domestic and foreign entities in India have the freedom to conduct activities following statutory rules and laws. Kailash Satyarthi, who worked against the child labour system, started work in his small town of Vidisha by founding the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and got the Nobel Prize by inspiring the world with his social service in India. Many national and international organisations are working in India for human rights, women’s and workers’ rights. Amnesty cleverly devised avenues for getting foreign funds or capital. To spread its net, it operated under four names: Amnesty International Foundation, Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd, Indians for Amnesty International Trust, and Amnesty International South Asia Foundation, and then opened many accounts in these names in banks. At the same time, from its headquarters located in Britain, it sometimes deposited money in the name of foreign capital investment. After receiving serious complaints of flouting rules and regulations, the Enforcement Directorate investigated and got the bank accounts banned for the time being. This action has also been taken under the rules of the Reserve Bank of India. Amnesty is free to defend itself by fighting a legal battle.
Amnesty was backing the movement against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly alleged that foreign powers were behind the movement. This cycle continues for years. That’s why Amnesty International kept calling them “armed group attacks” even after hundreds of Pandits were killed and their homes destroyed in terrorist activities in Kashmir and has been appealing not to give the death penalty to terrorists. The funniest thing is that, like private company owners or CEOs, Amnesty executives who claim to work for human rights, spend heavily on high salaries, five-star hotels, and business class air travel. In the name of protecting human rights and social service, they ask for tax-free facilities for the organization. To stop anti-India activities and propaganda from foreign funds, why does not only the government, but also other institutions of society take more stringent steps?
Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, advised strict monitoring and action against some dangerous anti-national activities of NGOs operating in the country. He said that in changing times, the methods of waging war against any country have also changed. As a new weapon of war, the civil society (NGOs) is preparing to destroy society. Doval had said, “Wars are no longer effective enough to achieve political and military objectives. Wars are very expensive. Not every country can afford them. There is always uncertainty about its outcome. In such a situation, the country can be harmed by dividing society and spreading confusion.”
Can it be denied that in the last two decades, many NGOs have been providing all possible assistance in the name of human rights to Maoists-Naxals and pro-Pakistan organisations carrying out anti-India activities directly or indirectly by taking foreign funding? Under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a crackdown on foreign funding of many organisations. However, many organisations are still active by adopting new tactics. There are some loopholes in the laws, and the police are unable to gather evidence of the activities going on secretly from forests to metros. Even Congress leaders have been killed in Naxalite attacks. Yet today, the party is showing sympathy towards such organizations.
According to government records, about 40 lakh NGOs were registered in different categories before the Modi government came. Of these, 33,000 NGOs have received grants of about Rs 13,000 crore. The use of foreign funds by such organisations has been investigated by security agencies for long. Investigation has revealed that the claims of expenditure for helping tribals in Naxal-affected areas have been proved wrong. After the BJP government came to power, the investigation work accelerated and the government banned foreign funding to about 8,875 NGOs under the Foreign Grants Regulatory Act. It also cancelled the recognition to 19,000 fake NGOs. It is said that the work of about 42,000 NGOs is being reviewed.
Society and the government should not have any objection to organizations working sincerely in the fields of education, health, and development. But in the name of civil society, it is very important to curb those who run anti-India conspiracies and activities.
The author is the editorial director of ITV Network-India News and Dainik Aaj Samaj.