Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal on Friday stepped up the party’s attack on the Centre over the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), accusing Union Home Minister Amit Shah of misleading the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and alleging that the Narendra Modi government has weaponised the law to target civil society organisations and minority-run institutions.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Venugopal claimed that Shah was attempting to deflect responsibility for what he described as the government’s systematic misuse of the FCRA. “In typical BJP fashion, HM Amit Shah has lied to the CBCI about FCRA and is wrongly deflecting blame to hide his government’s culpability in weaponising the FCRA laws,” Venugopal said.
He alleged that the Modi government had been “hell bent on using the FCRA to harass vocal civil society organisations and minority-run institutions and take over their properties.”
Highlighting changes made to the law, Venugopal said the Centre had significantly tightened the FCRA framework in 2020 by extending the period for which organisations could be suspended, expanding the government’s powers to scrutinise them and capping their administrative expenses, which he claimed had severely affected their ability to carry out routine activities.
The Congress leader further alleged that the government sought to widen its powers through proposed amendments to the FCRA in 2026.
“In 2026, first they sought to amend the FCRA legislation to give the Centre powers to seize properties of recipient organisations and also brought in provisions of ‘deemed cessation’ of licenses. After widespread opposition, they withdrew these amendments only to re-introduce them through the backdoor as delegated legislation,” he said.
Venugopal also alleged that the revised rules prevent organisations from changing their scope of work or geographical areas of operation and introduce ideological scrutiny that could be used to deny approvals to groups critical of the government.
“I challenge the Home Minister to show if any of these low-trust, vindictive measures were part of the FCRA in 2010 when the UPA brought it in. These are all measures introduced by a fascist regime that wants to destroy the civil society space through its harsh and regressive control,” he said.
Demanding immediate action, Venugopal urged the Union Home Minister to withdraw the new rules.
“The Home Minister must stop misleading the CBCI, eminent personalities and the general public, and immediately withdraw these rules,” he said.
The Congress’ latest criticism comes amid an intensifying political debate over the Centre’s recent changes to the FCRA framework. While the opposition has alleged that the law is being used to suppress dissent and exert greater control over non-governmental organisations, the government has maintained that the changes are aimed at improving transparency and accountability in the receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions.