BJP calls Congress’s charge against Union Home Minister on FCRA ‘baseless and politically motivated’
The BJP has dismissed allegations from Congress leader K.C. Venugopal, who accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of weaponizing the FCRA to target civil society and minority institutions. The dispute follows a request from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India for the government to withdraw and redraft the proposed FCRA Bill, 2026.
Why it matters
The controversy highlights growing tensions between the government and civil society regarding the regulation of foreign funding, which remains a critical issue for the operational independence of NGOs and religious institutions in India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said the Congress leader K.C. Venugopal’s allegations against Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) were “baseless and politically motivated”.
The response came after Mr. Venugopal, the Congress general secretary, in a post on X, said: “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.”
“In reality, the Modi government has been hell bent on using the FCRA to harass vocal civil society organisations and minority-run institutions and take over their properties,” he alleged.
On Friday (July 10, 2026), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) urged Mr. Shah to withdraw the FCRA Bill, 2026, and the recently notified Rules, requesting that both be redrafted after wider consultation with stakeholders.
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