Senior BJP leader threatens top rights activist of legal action, objects to Netherlands NGO's support to minorities

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Purshottam Rupala has threatened that he will take top human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi, founder of NGO Anhad, to the court of law for “defaming” him. In a statement posted to Counterview, he has said, “Hashmi has leveled a very serious charge of forging the documents against me, which I deny. My letter to the Prime Minister was based on facts. I call upon Hashmi to retract her statement and issue an apology, immediately, failing which I will not hesitate to take a legal actions against her.”

Anhad was founded in the wake of the communal riots in Gujarat, and ever since 2003 it has been working with the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Rupala had written a stinging letter to the Prime Minister in February this year, accusing her of carrying on her activities with foreign funds without following necessary legal procedure. Taking strong exception to Rupala's letter, Hashmi had said in a statement issued a few days backs that Rupala's letter to the PM was based on “forged documents to malign Anhad”.
Rupala's main objection to Hashmi and Anhad is their alleged “refusal” to declare before the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about receipt of Euros 3580 from the Netherlands-based NGO Hivos. He says, “Hivos is the same organization where Justice Aftab Alam (retired) submitted a paper in October 2009 at London, where he criticized the Supreme Court for not addressing the cause of minorities properly and claimed that Indian laws treat Hindus and Muslims differently.”
Rupala claims, “It is the same organization which paid a huge amount to Teesta Setalvad in November 2009 and to Shabnam Hashmi also in the same financial year.” He adds, his facts are “purely based on the information available on Form FC6 for the year ending March 31, 2010 submitted by Anhad online to MHA, where the name of only one donor ie Oxfom India, is mentioned and the amount received on December 12, 2009 was shown as Rs 18,42,735.”
Rupala says,“It is proved beyond doubt that Anhad has not disclosed the name of Hivos in online submission of information in Form FC6 to the MHA and it seems that Form FC3 submitted to the MHA by Hashmi was to cover up the lapse on her part and to avoid any prosecution under the act for concealment of facts.” He adds, “I wrote to the PM on February 13, 2013 based on the information submitted by the MHA in reply to an RTI query. The original reply of MHA along with copies of Form FC 6 for the year ending March 31, 2010 and March 31, 2011 sent by MHA to the RTI activist are in my possession.”
Rupala further claims, “On perusal of FC6 forms, it is clear that the RTI section of the MHA was taken out the print of the FC6 forms on January 16, 2016 from the website of the Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA) online services, and annexed along with the reply. The date and the URL are clearly printed on FC6 forms at the top and at the bottom.”
He adds, “Hence, Hashmi’s claim that there was no online filing of accounts in the year 2009-10 and the FC6 forms did not exists in 2009-10 and 2010-11 and Anhad did not file any online form for the year ending March, 31, 2010 is not only false but it is her calculated attempt to divert the attention from the real issue of her illegally using official bungalow of a Member Planning Commission and to malign and demeaning my image.”

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Search This Blog