Opinion | Congress must come clean on its relationship with Chinese government over donations taken
Opinion | Congress must come clean on its relationship with Chinese government over donations taken
The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, set up in 1991 after the death of the former Prime Minister, is headed by interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi. It has on its board of trustees, Rahul Gandhi, former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P. Chidambaram and several other Congress leaders and family loyalists. The purpose of this Foundation was to work on issues like literacy, health, disability, upliftment of underprivileged and natural resource management. This Foundation has now hit the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda on Friday alleged that the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, headed by then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh donated money in 2005 to this Foundation. Nadda tweeted to say: “PMNRF, meant to help people in distress, was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in UPA years. Who sat on the PMNRF board? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Who chairs RGF? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Totally reprehensible, disregarding ethics, processes and not bothering about transparency,” The BJP President further alleged: “People of India donated their hard-earned money to PMNRF to help their fellow citizens in need. To divert this public money into a family-run foundation is not only a brazen fraud but also a big betrayal of the people of India. ..One family’s hunger for wealth has cost the nation immensely. If only they have devoted their energies towards a more constructive agenda. The Congress’ Imperial Dynasty needs to apologise to the unchecked loot for self-gains!” Late in the evening, the Congress Party spokesman in a statement replied: “Pursuant to the unprecedented tsunami in the last week of 2004, RGF received a modest amount of Rs 20 lakhs from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in the financial year 2005, which was duly utilized to undertake relief activities in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.” On media reports about the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation accepting donations from the Embassy of China and the Chinese government, the Congress party replied: “…a 2005 grant of Rs. 1.45 crores (was) received from the Embassy of China to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for the purpose (1) Disabled Persons Welfare Program and (2) research on Sino-India relationships”. The Congress Party alleged that the Prime Minister and BJP President “ have unleashed diabolical disinformation, distraction and diversion from the real issue of Chinese incursion..” The Congress party statement conceals more than it reveals. According to some estimates, the donation from the Chinese government and Embassy of China to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi institute for Contemporary Studies (a think tank under RGF) was to the tune of $2 million between 2004 and 2006 and $9 million between 2006 and 2013. And now, look how the Congress was manipulating public opinion in favour of a Free Trade Agreement with China way back in 2009 in lieu of these donations. According to a news agency IANS report, in April 2009, an RGICS Fellow Mohammad Saqib carried out a feasibility study, ''India-China: Free Trade Agreement (FTA)'', in association with Purnachandra Rao.
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The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, set up in 1991 after the death of the former Prime Minister, is headed by interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi. It has on its board of trustees, Rahul Gandhi, former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P. Chidambaram and several other Congress leaders and family loyalists. The purpose of this Foundation was to work on issues like literacy, health, disability, upliftment of underprivileged and natural resource management. This Foundation has now hit the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda on Friday alleged that the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, headed by then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh donated money in 2005 to this Foundation. Nadda tweeted to say: “PMNRF, meant to help people in distress, was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in UPA years. Who sat on the PMNRF board? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Who chairs RGF? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Totally reprehensible, disregarding ethics, processes and not bothering about transparency,” The BJP President further alleged: “People of India donated their hard-earned money to PMNRF to help their fellow citizens in need. To divert this public money into a family-run foundation is not only a brazen fraud but also a big betrayal of the people of India. ..One family’s hunger for wealth has cost the nation immensely. If only they have devoted their energies towards a more constructive agenda. The Congress’ Imperial Dynasty needs to apologise to the unchecked loot for self-gains!” Late in the evening, the Congress Party spokesman in a statement replied: “Pursuant to the unprecedented tsunami in the last week of 2004, RGF received a modest amount of Rs 20 lakhs from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in the financial year 2005, which was duly utilized to undertake relief activities in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.” On media reports about the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation accepting donations from the Embassy of China and the Chinese government, the Congress party replied: “…a 2005 grant of Rs. 1.45 crores (was) received from the Embassy of China to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for the purpose (1) Disabled Persons Welfare Program and (2) research on Sino-India relationships”. The Congress Party alleged that the Prime Minister and BJP President “ have unleashed diabolical disinformation, distraction and diversion from the real issue of Chinese incursion..” The Congress party statement conceals more than it reveals. According to some estimates, the donation from the Chinese government and Embassy of China to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi institute for Contemporary Studies (a think tank under RGF) was to the tune of $2 million between 2004 and 2006 and $9 million between 2006 and 2013. And now, look how the Congress was manipulating public opinion in favour of a Free Trade Agreement with China way back in 2009 in lieu of these donations. According to a news agency IANS report, in April 2009, an RGICS Fellow Mohammad Saqib carried out a feasibility study, ''India-China: Free Trade Agreement (FTA)'', in association with Purnachandra Rao. https://ift.tt/387Zjx6
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