RGF's FCRA licence cancelled to divert attention from economic crisis: Cong

After Centre cancelled FCRA of RGF, Cong MP Jairam Ramesh called it a move to divert public attention from the crisis caused by spiralling prices, unemployment, falling rupee

After the Central government cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Congress MP and General Secretary Incharge of Communications Jairam Ramesh on Sunday called it a move by the Centre to divert public attention from the "deep crisis caused by spiralling prices, galloping unemployment and a falling rupee".

Issuing a statement, Ramesh said the economy is in deep crisis caused by spiralling prices, galloping unemployment and a falling rupee. The Bharat Jodo Yatra has evoked a huge public response. He said people are fed up with the politics of hate and divisiveness.

Over the Diwali weekend, he said the Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled the FCRA registrations of both the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT).

 

"They recycle old charges against the RGF and RGCT. This is to defame and divert public attention from issues of day-to-day concern to them," Ramesh alleged.

The Congress leader said the RGF was established in 1991 and has been engaged in development programs in various parts of India. Lakhs of people, including children, youth, women, and the disabled have benefited from the programs of these Trusts.

The RGCT works in Northern India with a focus on the poorest regions of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan through development initiatives. RGCT was registered in 2002 as a professionally managed, not-for-profit institution to fulfill former PM Rajiv Gandhi's vision of an inclusive India, he said.

The Trusts, Ramesh said have always been purely charitable in nature and comply with all laws and regulations. All statutory requirements of audit, program activity and financial disclosure, and filing of returns have been scrupulously followed every year by the Trusts. The background for the cancellation of the FCRA registration should be obvious to anyone who understands the nature of the present dispensation.He further said the RGF and RGCT will of course be responding to the charges hurled at it and take whatever action it deems appropriate legally. Their activities are completely open and transparent. They have rendered yeoman public service, Ramesh added.

The Central government has cancelled the FCRA license of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, a non-government organization associated with the Gandhi family, for alleged violations of the foreign funding law, the government sources said on Sunday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cancelled the registration of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) based on recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into violation of various legal provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

The committee formed by the MHA in July 2020 has pointed its findings about the violations of various FCRA norms that have resulted in the cancellation of the registration of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which was established in 1991, the officer privy to the development said.

An inquiry started against the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in July 2020 when the MHA constituted an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate three Gandhi family foundations-- Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust-- for possible violations of the money laundering act, Income Tax act and FCRA.

The committee comprised officers from the MHA, Ministry of Finance as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and was mandated to investigate if the trusts, run by the Gandhi family and other Congress leaders, manipulated any documents while filing income tax or misused and laundered money received from foreign countries.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Among other trustees of the NGO are former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and members of Parliament Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.Rajiv Gandhi Foundation came under the scanner in July 2020, when the MHA set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate three Gandhi family foundations-- Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust-- for any possible violations of the money laundering act, Income Tax act and FCRA.

The committee comprised officers from the Union home and finance ministries as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It was mandated to investigate if these trusts run by the Gandhi family and other Congress leaders manipulated any documents while filing income tax or misused and laundered money received from foreign countries.