The Ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Tuesday rejected Amnesty International’s claims of an “incessant witch-hunt” by the Centre, calling them “exaggerated” and “far from the truth”. Coming down heavily on the organisation, the ministry also said, all the “glossy statements” about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a “ploy to divert attention” from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws.
In a detailed statement, the ministry said, “The Amnesty International’s statement was ‘unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth’, and such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years.”
The home ministry said the Amnesty International had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too 20 years ago, on 19 December 2000.
Since then the organisation, despite its repeated applications, has been denied FCRA approval by successive governments since as per law it is not eligible for it. However, in order to circumvent the FCRA regulations, Amnesty UK remitted large amounts of money to four entities registered in India by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
A significant amount of foreign money was also remitted to Amnesty (India) without the MHA’s approval under the FCRA. “This mala fide rerouting of money was in contravention of extant legal provisions,” it said. Owing to these illegal practices of Amnesty, the previous government had also rejected the resubmitted applications of Amnesty to receive funds from overseas, the home ministry said. This had led Amnesty to suspend its Indian operations once during that period as well.
The Home Ministry said this bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations. “The stand taken and the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth,” the home ministry said.
The Home Ministry said that Amnesty is free to continue humanitarian work in India, as is being done by many other organisations. “However, India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic and political debates by entities funded by foreign donations. This law applies equally to all and it shall apply to Amnesty International as well,” the MHA statement said, adding that India has a rich and pluralistic democratic culture with a free press, independent judiciary and a tradition of vibrant domestic debate.
“Amnesty’s failure to comply with local regulations does not entitle them to make comments on the democratic and plural character of India,” it said.
Earlier in the day, Amnesty International said that it is halting all its activities in India due to freezing of its accounts and claimed that it is being subjected to an “incessant witch-hunt” over unfounded and motivated allegations. It said that the organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. “The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organisation to a grinding halt,” Amnesty said in its statement.
Meanwhile, the BJP hit out at Amnesty International for its alleged involvement in “multiple illegalities” and said that it has no right to lecture on propriety. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that any organisation can work in India but it cannot violate the laws and regulations of the country.
