Opposition Writes To Modi To Restore Cancelled FCRA Licences Of NGOs 

New Delhi: Leaders of opposition parties wrote to Narendra Modi on Friday accusing his government of pursuing vendetta politics by "selectively" cancelling FCRA licences of NGOs critical of its policies and sought rollback of the decision.

In a letter to Modi, leaders from Congress, the Left and other parties accused the Centre of trying to "bully the NGOs", and RSS-affiliated NGOs of "collecting huge money to further their hate-filled agenda".

The Home Ministry recently barred some NGOs from receiving foreign funds after their FCRA licences were cancelled following alleged adverse intelligence reports against them.

The decision to cancel their registration is therefore motivated by the politics of vendetta, victimisation and an effort to bully them to silence

Registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), run by Hashmi, Marwar Muslim Education and Welfare Society, Gujarat-based Navsarjan Trust, Rural Development Research Centre, Ahmedabad, and three others were cancelled by the Ministry.

The licences had been earlier renewed showing that in the normal course these NGOs had fulfilled the criteria required for registration.

"The decision to cancel their registration is therefore motivated by the politics of vendetta, victimisation and an effort to bully them to silence," a CPI(M) statement quoted the letter signed by Sitaram Yechury and P Karunakaran of CPI(M), D Raja (CPI), Ahmed Patel and Renuka Chaudhury (Congress), Premchand Gupta (RJD), Praful Patel and Supriya (NCP) and Neeraj Shekar (SP) among others.

"Such selective targeting of NGOs is abhorrent and anti-democratic. We, therefore, demand that the cancellation of licences to NGOs be revoked," they said.

PTI