Ministry of Home Affairs revoked the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s FCRA licence

The Ministry of Home Affairs revoked the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s FCRA licence, dealing a severe blow to Congress. Senior party figures including Rahul Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra serve as trustees, with Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress, serving as the trust’s chair. The RGF claims to have worked on a number of important issues including health, literacy, science and technology, women’s and children’s development, disability support, Panchayati Raj institutions, and natural resource management. It was founded on June 21, 1991, following the murder of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

In July 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs established an inter-ministerial committee under the direction of the ED Special Director to oversee the investigation into alleged violations of the PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA, and other laws by the RGF, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. According to reports, these trusts received notices in this respect later, and the CBI and the ED were also looking into the situation. According to sources, the RGF’s FCRA licence was cancelled because of breaches of the foreign funding legislation. From 2005 through 2009, the Chinese government is said to have provided funds for it.

Former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said in an exclusive interview with Republic TV that the RGF got funding from many embassies, including China. He claimed, ‘I’ve been aware of this issue for a while since I first voiced my objection to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s construction on the site that was intended for the Congress party office in the late 1990s. They went and built a private institution that the family controls in defiance of that, even though it was in a highly visible location’.

Swamy said, ‘They then began receiving funds from Delhi-based embassies, donations that violated the FCRA, and so on. Therefore, in my view, the government need to go a little farther and seize the structure as well as the surrounding property. Because that property is also public land’. According to PTI, the 2002-founded Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust had its FCRA registration cancelled as well. This trust, which is led by Sonia Gandhi, attempts to meet the impoverished citizens of the nation’s development requirements.

BJP’s accusations against RGF
The BJP claimed that the RGF got a contribution of Rs 90 lakh from the Chinese Embassy in India in 2006–2007 in response to criticism the RGF received following a skirmish between the Indian Army and the PLA in the Galwan Valley two years ago. Additionally, it charged Congress of stealing money from PMLA suspects including Mehul Choksi and Zakir Naik, who are now at large. Additionally, BJP leader JP Nadda produced papers to show that money from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund had been given to the RGF. The trust supported by Congress won’t be allowed to accept any foreign investment without the FCRA licence.