The Narendra Modi Government clearly shares the problematic relationship that its predecessor government of the UPA, especially towards the end of its tenure, had with non-governmental organisations and people’s movements in general. What began primarily as a crackdown on organisations protesting against the nuclear power projects in Kudankulam and Jaitapur, has since then acquired a sharper edge. If >UPA II barred a dozen NGOs from receiving foreign donations and contributions, the BJP government has not only frozen their accounts but also blamed them for economic ills. An Intelligence Bureau report apparently blamed them for the slump in India’s GDP. In other words, NGOs are the major stumbling blocks to the government’s avowed pursuit of development. A claim that some NGOs — make that Christian NGOs — are engaging in proselytisation has also been floated. The present government and its leading spokespersons never tire of reiterating their strange position on conversions, also projecting the possibility of bringing forward a law to curb them. >The crackdown on NGOs in terms of putting a freeze on foreign donations they receive, on the ground of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) violations, is but a manifestation of the dim view the government has of NGOs. U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma spoke at an event organised by a Delhi-based think tank of the chilling effect the government’s actions on this front may have on civil society. Must all those who may have a dissenting view be identified as enemies of the state? By freezing their accounts, the government has almost forced the closure of the operations in India of Greenpeace, which was spearheading the movement against a power plant in Madhya Pradesh. Bank accounts of the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others are also seemingly under scrutiny.

In a country, which as Ambassador Verma estimates has some two million registered NGOs, the bad pennies among them of course have to be tackled firmly. They should be held accountable for their actions under Indian law if any law is violated. Yet, as a nation India must also acknowledge the innumerable positive interventions made by NGOs, and their imprint on landmark Acts passed in Parliament. Whether it is about the Right to Food, Right to Education or the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the most fundamental of them all, the Right to Information — which seeks to make the government accountable to the public on its decisions — several key pieces of legislation owe in no small measure to NGO interventions. The sledgehammer treatment now being meted out to NGOs does not behove this government. The clampdown is nothing short of an extreme step. It will have the same kind of chilling effect that a clampdown on free speech will have.