Won’t cede an inch to Beijing, vows Shah, tears into Congress for ‘China love’

NEW DELHI: Declaring that the Narendra Modi government would not allow “a single inch of its land” to be encroached upon, home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday praised Indian soldiers for “protecting the motherland” by driving away Chinese infiltrators from Tawang “within hours” on December 8-9.
At the same time, he cornered Congress for disrupting question hour in Lok Sabha even though a statement by the defence minister on the events in Tawang had been slotted. Shah alleged that Congress may have done so to avoid any disclosures during his reply to a starred question pertaining to the Chinese funding extended to the Sonia Gandhi-led Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) between 2005 and 2007.

The registration of two Gandhi family-run trusts — Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) — under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, was scrapped in October this year over violation of multiple provisions of the Act.
Shah disclosed outside Parliament that RGF had received Rs 1.35 crore from the Chinese embassy during 2005-07 for research on development of Sino-Indian ties. Incidentally, RGF was registered under FCRA with ‘social welfare’ as its objective.
“Since the transaction (receipt of Rs 1.35 crore from the Chinese embassy) was not in conformity with FCRA laws, the home ministry, after following all the legal formalities and after issuing notice, cancelled the FCRA registration,” said Shah. The prime violations against RGF and RGCT are: not utilising funds for the purpose for which they were received, failure to maintain proper accounts and also not keeping the government informed about the source and utilisation of each foreign receipt.

Asking Congress for aspects covered by RGF’s research on Sino-India ties and the outcome, Shah wondered if the encroachment of thousands of hectares of land by China in 1962 was looked into. Other events that he mentioned while seeking details of the research were India’s sacrificing a permanent UNSC seat on account of “Nehru’s love” for China and a dinner hosted by Congress for Chinese embassy officials even as the Army fought Chinese troops in Galwan in 2020.
“When they were in office, the Chinese made claims on Arunachal Pradesh and the erstwhile NEFA. In 2007 China rejected the visa application of then Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu, stating that Arunachal is a part of China... In 2009, China objected to then PM Manmohan Singh’s Arunachal Pradesh visit.” He asked if all these aspects of Sino-Indian ties were researched by the RGF.