Not many other actions of the Narendra Modi government have exposed the contradictions and hypocrisy in its policies as its reach-out to non-government organisations (NGOs) for steps to aid and supplement its efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The government’s initiative has come from the NITI Aayog, which has written to over 92,000 NGOs in the country to assist the government in identifying virus hotspots and deputing volunteers and care-givers to deliver services to the elderly, persons with disabilities, children, transgender persons and other vulnerable groups. There are NGOs working in all these areas, and they are doing excellent work and helping people. They will be able to contact the target groups, communicate with them and ensure that effective steps are taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic among them.

The Modi government has always been hostile to NGOs and has harassed them for wrong and unconvincing reasons. It has looked at them as agents of foreign interests and acted vindictively against them. Some were banned and some others were told to curtail their activities. Representatives of these organisations have been arrested and humiliated on flimsy grounds. One major complaint of the government is that these organisations receive funds from abroad and utilise them for activities it does not approve of. They have often been accused of proselytisation and anti-national activities. Staying on the right side of the law and keeping proper records of activities and accounts has not helped many of them avoid being targeted. While the government does not approve of NGOs, many of which serve the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of society, receiving funds from abroad and has taken action against them under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) and recently tightened the rules under the law, it has no qualms about political parties receiving such funds. It has legalised and institutionalised anonymous and opaque funding, including from unknown foreign sources by amending the very same FCRA, through the electoral bonds scheme, of which the BJP is the biggest beneficiary. The hypocrisy of it all is obvious.

NGOs are relevant and necessary because they do a lot of work that the government is unable or unwilling to do. Many of them have large networks of dedicated grassroots workers. They have done a lot of good work to mitigate the pain of the 21-day lockdown among people who were badly affected by it, like migrant workers and daily wage earners. They would be happy to heed the government’s call, but the question is whether the government has truly changed its attitude towards NGOs or its appeal is only a tactical retreat from its war on NGOs.