Amit Shah Raises Chinese Donation To Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, What's Congress-China Controversy All About?

As the Opposition tried to corner the Union government over Friday's India-China clash in Arunachal Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit back at Congress on Tuesday and raised the issue of Chinese donations to Congress-run Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF).

Shah said the RGF had got Rs 1.35 crore from the Chinese embassy and its registration was cancelled as this was not according to FCRA rules.

Earlier in October, the Union government cancelled the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) licence of RGF. 

Shah further said the Congress had raised the India-Ch issue in Parliament to avoid questions on the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's FCRA cancellation.

Here we explain what's Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and what's the China-Congress controversy all about.

What's Rajiv Gandhi Foundation?

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is a Congress-run organisation that says it works in the education sector. It was set up on June 21, 1991.

Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the Chairperson of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and top Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, and P Chidambaram are among its trustees. 

The RGF wesbite says, "From 1991 to 2009, the Foundation worked on a number of critical issues, including health, literacy, science and technology, women’s and children’s development, disability support, Panchayati Raj institutions, natural resource management, and libraries. In 2010, the Foundation decided to focus on education going forward."

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation wesbite lists the following initiatives:

• INTERACT, providing educational support to children impacted by conflict
• Rajiv Gandhi Access to Opportunities programme, enhancing mobility of physically challenged youth
• Rajiv Gandhi Cambridge Scholarship programme, providing financial assistance to bright Indian students to study at Cambridge
• Natural Resource Management, supporting Gram Gaurav 
• Wonderoom, an innovative children’s library

What did Amit Shah say?

In a dig at Congress, Shah said since the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation might already have conducted the research, have it included the issue of the occupation of thousands of hectares of Indian land by China in 1962? 

He said, "If research is conducted on this subject, then what is the outcome of it?"

Shah further claimed India lost its membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) because of the personal relationship its leaders had with foreign leaders. He asked whether the Congress also researched issues like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru "sacrificing" India's seat in the United Nations Security Council, denial of visa by China to the then Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Dorjee Khandu, and issuing of staple visa to residents of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Shah also said the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received Rs 50 lakh from Zakir Naik, founder of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), which was banned by the government for its alleged involvement in terrorism.

What's Rajiv Gandhi Foundation-China controversy?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that the Congress party has had close ties with China and that its Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) received donations from the Chinese government through its embassy.

Shah's statement on Tuesday is not the first time the BJP has raised the issue. It was first raised in 2020 when the Union government was under criticism over the beginning of border stand-off with China along the de facto border Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In June 2020, BJP leader and the-then Minister of Law and Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad cited the RajiV Gandhi Foundation's 2005-06 annual report to say that it received donation from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China (PRC). PRC is the official name of China.

Congress-Communist Party of China MoU controversy

The BJP has also attacked the Congress over links with the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the allged favours to China during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) government during 2004-14.

In 2008, the Congress party and the CPC signed an agreement "to promote regular exchanges between the two ruling parties", according to a Rediff News report from 2008. 

The agreement was signed by the then-Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Wang Jia Rui, Minister at the International Department of the Communist Party of China. The then-Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Xi Jinping, who later became Chinese president, was also present during the signing, said the Rediff report.

"The signing ceremony was preceded by a 30-minute meeting between Gandhi and Xi...The MoU seeks to promote exchanges, especially youth exchanges, to allow both sides to develop a better understanding on development and related issues of shared interest," noted the Rediff report.

In January 2021, the BJP connected the MoU with the rise in India-China trade that favours China.

BJP IT department chief Amit Malviya said, "After Rahul Gandhi signed a MoU and RGF received donations from China, India’s trade deficit with China, during UPA-1, increased more than 17x, and 88 per cent under UPA-2. Under the UPA, overall trade deficit with China increased 33x, i.e from $1.1 Bn in 2003-04 to $36.2 Bn in 2013-14."

Why was Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's FCRA licence cancelled?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the FCRA licence of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was cancelled after due dilligence. The FCRA governs foreign contributions to Indian entities.

He said, "Between 2005 and 2007, the RGF had received Rs 1.35 crore from the Chinese embassy. After following due diligence, the home ministry cancelled the FCRA registration of the RGF."

On Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) listed the reasons in Rajya Sabha for the cancellation of FCRA licencse of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

In response to a question, the MHA said, "The FCRA license of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) was cancelled under section 14 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA, 2010) due to violation of provisions under section 11 and conditions of registration under section 12(4)(a)(vi) of the FCRA, 2010. 

"The FCRA license of the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) was cancelled under section 14 of the FCRA, 2010 due to violation of provisions under sections 8(1)(a), 11, 17, 18, 19 and conditions of registration under section 12(4)(a)(vi) of the FCRA, 2010. (b) & (c): In terms of provisions under section 14(3) of the FCRA, 2010, the association whose FCRA registration has been cancelled in terms of provisions under section 14 of the FCRA, 2010 shall not be eligible for registration or grant of prior permission for a period of three years from the date of cancellation of registration."

(With PTI inputs)