Congress leader Pawan Khera hit back Monday in his party’s ongoing row with the ruling BJP after the government last year cancelled the FCRA (Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act) licences of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for violation of laws, including illegally getting ₹1.35 crore in funds from the Chinese embassy between 2005 and 2007.
The FCRA license issue – never far from the media spotlight – was raked up again this month after China’s border transgression in Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP referred to the allegation after the Congress questioned the silence by prime minister Narendra Modi – ‘#JawabDoModi’ it tweeted last week.
In the latest exchanges, Khera pointed out think-tanks and research organisations frequently receive funds from abroad and counterattacked by claiming that the organisation that external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s son works for had ‘received grants from Chinese Embassy thrice’.
“It is in (the) public domain that money (from the Chinese embassy) was taken by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Organisations receive grants from everywhere in this manner. Organisation for which EAM’s (external affairs minister) son works received grants from Chinese Embassy thrice. We didn’t level any allegations…”
READ | Government cancels FCRA licence of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
Khera was referring to Dhruva Jaishankar, a senior official at the Observer Research Foundation that (according to media reports) was given ₹1.26 crore in 2016 and ₹50 lakh in 2017 from the Chinese consulate in Kolkata.
The foreign minister has not yet responded to the Congress’ jibe.
Khera – speaking from the side-lines of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan – continued: “What is wrong? You (the BJP) answer… why is PM Modi scared of China? Why does he not open his mouth in front of them? Why does he give them a clean chit and negate sacrifices of our own jawans…”
READ | Congress questions Modi’s ‘silence’ on Arunachal India-China clashes
The Congress has been relentless in attacking Modi over Chinese aggression in Arunachal Pradesh (to add to the clash in Ladakh’s Galwan in 2020) and, on Sunday, party leader Jairam Ramesh posed seven questions to the government.
READ | ‘You shook hands with Xi’: Congress’ 7 questions to PM on China
Led by the Congress, opposition parties have forced adjournments of Parliament’s winter session even as the government refuses to debate the issue.
The BJP has accused the Congress of using the incident in the Tawang sector to avoid answering questions about alleged foreign exchange law violations.
READ | Congress disrupts Parliament to skirt Rajiv Gandhi Foundation issues
Union home minister Amit Shah blasted the Congress for having ‘no plausible justification’ to disrupt Parliament and declared that when the opposition party was in power it had allowed China to get away with several transgressions.
With input from ANI
