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RSS hits back at US over stand on Ford Foundation, Greenpeace

Defending the government's action against the NGOs, it said it was important to keep in mind that India is a vibrant democracy and capable of nurturing the legacy of non-state initiatives.

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A week after the US expressed concern over the Modi government's clamping down on two NGOs, the RSS has questioned Washington's defence of Greenpeace and Ford Foundation dubbing it as the "global police of democracy".

"If the US or for that matter any country wants to come clean on the issue of foreign funding for raising 'rights based issues',they have to respect the sovereignty and cultural ethos of the home country.

Otherwise, NGOism will always be perceived as another uncivil instrument of foreign policy intervention in the name of civil society," said an editorial in the latest edition of the RSS mouthpiece "Organiser".

Raising several questions about its stand, the RSS asked if the US would allow "legal violations" by such NGOs in its own land. "The US jumping the gun in defence of international NGOs and seeking 'clarification' from the biggest democracy ratifies the fears of them being the US agencies, as alleged by some of the research works in the US," said the editorial titled "The Uncivil Intervention".

Defending the government's action against the NGOs, it said it was important to keep in mind that India is a vibrant democracy and capable of nurturing the legacy of non-state initiatives. "Is it a coincidence that every developmental initiative taken by India is blocked by some or the other NGO lobby? Interestingly, in most of the cases they have connections with organisations propagating particular religion or undemocratic ideology. Why India should not see opposition to all kinds of self-sufficiency in power generation as threat to energy security? The functioning of these NGOs time and again raise doubts about their non-profit and non-political nature," the editorial said.

It said Greenpeace has reportedly incurred an expenditure of Rs 25,000 in 2008-09 and Rs 55,000 in 2009-10 for securing bail bonds and payment of legal fee, apart from spending Rs 28.35 lakh in 2010-11 on financing and legal charges. "This was a diversion of funds sought for environmental cause, without the consent of the donor as required by Section 8(1)(a) of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010. The other omnipresent NGO, Ford Foundation, is accused to have violated the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and directly interfered in "the internal affairs of the country and abetting communal disharmony in India," it said.

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