No one above law, says BJP as govt. cancels FCRA licenses of NGOs linked to Gandhi family

Following reports that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licenses of two NGOs associated with the Gandhi family were cancelled by the Union government, the BJP on October 23 said that the Gandhi family and organisations linked to it cannot be above law.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the cancellation of the FCRA licenses of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable trust (RGCT) had “exposed” the corruption in these organisations.

He said that the Narendra Modi government had acted as per law and pointed out that the RGF had in the past accepted donations from controversial preacher Zakir Naik, the Chinese government and its embassy in Delhi and from Rana Kapoor—the founder of Yes Bank—who is currently under investigation for corruption.

Mr. Patra alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had been running “the UPA government and the NGOs with extra constitutional authority” and further stated that these NGOs had received patronage from the then ruling dispensation as several Ministries and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) donated huge sums to them.

“Even the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund meant for help during disasters and accidents were donated to the RGF. The Gandhi family is present wherever there is corruption,” he said.

Government sources have said that the action against the two NGOs came following investigations carried out by an inter-Ministerial committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2020. According to sources, the investigations were into the alleged manipulation of documents while filing income tax returns and money laundering of funds received from abroad.