Anti national NGOs, urban naxals: The crackdown has begun

New Delhi, Nov 2: The role of several NGOs fuelling anti national activities has come under the scanner of the Union Home Ministry.

The government has now in an advisory directed all states to keep a close tab on NGOs for anti national activities. The advisory states that the police in all states should keep a close watch and also act against those NGOs indulging in anti national activities.

In various cases, it has come to light that the NGOs fuel protests. Several instances have been reported when the protests turn violent and investigations have shown that they were fuelled solely by NGOs.

This advisory comes after it was noticed a few years back that many NGOs in India had been receiving foreign funding. The funding it was found was used for various anti national activities such as staging protests and ensuring that they turned violent. One such instance was the protest at Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu that led to the loss of 11 lives.

The role of an NGO had come under the scanner and the investigations showed that the the violence was stage managed. The Bhima Koregaon violence was also staged by an NGO. The role of several persons close to naxalites had come under the scanner and a case was registered.

Investigations also had led to the filing of cases against NGOs run by the likes of Teesta Setalvad and Zakir Naik. They had been booked by the National Investigation Agency for anti national activities. In the case of Naik, it was alleged that the NGOs run by him had indulged in forced conversions.

Last week the Enforcement Directorate had raided the office of Amnesty International in Bengaluru for violating norms under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act or FCRA.
In 2016, nearly 25 NGOs were placed under the watchlist for anti national activities.

Sources say that these NGOs have been under close scrutiny for sometime. The NGOs were brining in the money and it was noticed that a large sum was being used for anti national activities.

The home ministry has been cracking down on thousands of NGOs since the past three years. Most of the NGOs had not applied for a renewal of licences under the FCRA. There were other NGOs which had not filed their annual returns for three years. Following this massive clean up act, there are currently 20,500 NGOs that receive foreign funds as opposed to the 42,500 that had licences to receive foreign funds.