Congress courts fresh trouble as party stands at the cusp of change

As interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi prepares to hand over her party’s reins to Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi continues to draw massive crowds to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, there’s fresh legal trouble brewing for the Gandhi family.

The Union ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on Saturday (October 24) cancelled the FCRA licence of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT), alleging various violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Sonia is the chairperson of the RGF and the RGCT, which were registered as non-government organisations (NGOs) in 1991 and 2002, respectively.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, are among the trustees of the RGF. The RGF had been involved with various initiatives in the fields of literacy through scholarship programmes, promotion of science and technology, empowerment of the underprivileged and disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts between 1991 and 2015.

Also read: China, UAE funds: ED to send 10-point questionnaire to Sonia Gandhi

Similarly, the RGCT, which operates the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP) and the Indira Gandhi Eye Hospital and Research Centre (IGEHRC) in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, has among its trustees, Rahul, Dr. Ashok Ganguly, former director on the RBI’s Central Board, Bansi Mehta, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Deep Joshi, co-founder of the NGO, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN).

NGOs were on Centre’s radar since 2020

The MHA had given the nod for an inter-ministerial investigation into the functioning and finances of the two NGOs in July 2020, shortly after Rahul launched a scathing attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre over Chinese incursions into Indian territory in Ladakh and the killing of 20 Indian Army personnel by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Galwan.

In response to Rahul’s broadside, senior leaders of the BJP, including party president JP Nadda, had alleged that the Congress party had, through the RGF, received a “fat sum” amounting to 300,000 USD from the People’s Republic of China and its embassy in India. “These people take funds from China and then conduct studies that are not in the interest of the country,” Nadda had said at the time, while alleging that there existed a “secret relationship between the Congress party and China”.

Accusing the Centre of going on a “witch-hunt” against the Gandhi family with the intended aim of intimidating Sonia and Rahul, the Congress party had rubbished the allegations made by the BJP and asserted that “every single penny received by the RGF and RGCT was accounted for and mentioned in the annual reports of the NGOs… we have nothing to hide and our annual reports are a matter of public record”.

The RGF had, according to its annual report for 2005-2006, listed the Embassy of the PRC as one of its “partner organisations and donors” from which it had reportedly received donations in 2005-2006 while the RGF was conducting a study on the free trade agreement between India and China. The RGF study had concluded that such a trade agreement would be beneficial to the Indian economy.

Allegations of ‘Chinese links’

The BJP, however, continued its offensive against the Congress and the Gandhis, accusing them of being on the payrolls of the Chinese establishments. On July 8, 2020, the MHA, helmed by Amit Shah, constituted the probe panel to “coordinate investigations into violation of various legal provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Income Tax Act, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, etc.” by the RGF, RGCT and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. The committee was headed by special director of the ED, with officials from the Income Tax department, the MHA, the Union finance ministry and Union ministry for Urban Development as its members.

The details of the inter-ministerial panel’s investigations into the Gandhi family-run NGOs are have not been made public as yet; the MHA has cancelled the FCRA registration of the RGF and the RGCT based on preliminary findings of “several irregularities” in the receipt and expenditure of foreign funding by the two organisations. It is not clear what whether investigations against the Gandhis or others associated with the two NGOs have been recommended by the panel.

Diversion tactic, alleges Congress

The MHA’s action comes even as investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Sonia and Rahul in the National Herald case are still going on. Earlier this year, the ED had summoned both Sonia and Rahul for several rounds of questioning in the National Herald case.

Also read:A step-by-step explanation of the National Herald case

The Congress, meanwhile, has claimed that the cancellation of FCRA registration of the two organisations has been ordered by the Modi government in a bid to “to defame and divert public attention from issues of day-to-day concern”.

In a statement issued late Saturday (October 22) evening, Congress’s communication department chief Jairam 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. Clearly people are fed up with the politics of hate and divisiveness. Over the Deepavali weekend, the MHA cancelled the FCRA registrations of the RGF and the 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”.

Ramesh said the RGF, since its inception in 1991 following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, had been promoting the ideas of “sadbhavana” (solidarity), “inclusive and sustainable development of India using science and technology, empowerment of women and youth and of local self- government… and relief to those affected by natural disasters, and those with disabilities” through development programmes. “Lakhs of people, including children, youth, women, and the disabled have benefited from the programs of these Trusts,” Ramesh claimed, adding that the RGCT’s Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana had “touched the lives of more than 20 lakh poor households” in UP while the IGEHRC had “provided comprehensive and quality eye care to around 40 lakh patients, including over 4.5 lakh sight-restoring surgeries”.

Also read: Chidambaram hits out at Nadda for speaking ‘half-truths’ on funds received by RGF

The Congress has claimed that “all statutory requirements of audit, program activity and financial disclosure, and filing of returns have been scrupulously followed every year by the Trusts”.

‘Modi govt rattled by Bharat Jodo Yatra’

Given that the sudden cancellation of the FCRA registrations coincides with a persistently growing participation of ordinary people in the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra – the largest public mobilisation and outreach initiative launched by the Congress since 1990 with Rahul as its mascot – the Congress claims that the trigger for the MHA’s action “should be obvious to anyone who understands the nature of the present dispensation”.

Ramesh said the RGF and the RGCT “will be responding to the charges hurled at it and take whatever action it (sic) deems appropriate legally” and maintained that the Congress “will not be browbeaten or deterred from continuing with the Bharat Jodo Yatra”.

Legally, the two NGOs have the option of challenging the MHA’s decision in court. However, the progress in similar court cases filed by sundry organisations that lost their FCRA registrations over the past few years ostensibly as backlash for being critical of the Modi regime shows that the process for a judicial redressal of the impasse would be a long drawn one and without guarantee of any relief.

Also read: Bharat Jodo Yatra: Key to Congress’ electoral revival lies elsewhere

As such, the Gandhis, will have to fight their latest challenge in the court of public opinion where, with crucial assembly polls for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assemblies round the corner, the BJP will undoubtedly use the allegations of financial impropriety and Gandhi-run NGOs receiving money from the Chinese government, to reignite the image of a corrupt Congress.