India trashes US claim of opaqueness in banning NGO

NEW DELHI: India today rejected the US' contention of lack of transparency in banning Compassion International, insisting the matter was of "law enforcement", a euphemism for the US-based Christian NGO allegedly having violated Indian laws.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay also trashed suggestions in the US media about RSS' involvement in getting the NGO banned, saying it was "completely extraneous" to the matter.

"Any NGO, foreign or Indian, is to operate in India or for that matter anywhere else in the world within the laws of the country. The process has been very transparent. We have been fully transparent in this regard, including in our conversations with the concerned on the prevalent situation.


"There have been meetings of senior government officials and representatives of the NGO concerned. And we had made our position very clear to them and to all those who have spoken to us about it," Baglay said.

Baglay was asked to comment on the US State Department's acting spokesman Mark Toner's remarks that over the past couple of years a number of foreign-funded NGOs in India have encountered "significant challenges" in continuing their operations.

"And we believe it's imperative that all parties work transparently and cooperatively in a way that, obviously, respects India's laws but also encourages a transparent process, and these are views that we've made clear to the Indian Government," Toner had said during his regular briefing in Washington while commenting on CI closing its operations in India.

Baglay also asserted that there is a well established legal framework for NGOs for conducting their operations in India, which has one of the largest network of NGOs in the world.

Asked about reports in the US media about the RSS' role in the banning of CI, he said, "The alleged suggestion is totally extraneous to the law enforcement action concerning the above-mentioned organisations."

Indian authorities had put CI under prior permission category in May last year following allegations of funding religious conversions, barring it from receiving foreign funds without the government's approval.

In December, the Home Ministry had said it was unlikely to reconsider the decision, notwithstanding the appeals by American authorities.