Opposition members call for FCRA panel to hold wider consultations across country

Opposition members, in a letter to the panel chairperson and BJP leader Sanjay Jaiswal, said the committee should hold wider consultations with stakeholders across the country. File

The Parliament’s Joint Committee reviewing the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, met 25 organisations in a single day’s sitting on Thursday (November 12, 2026), as it rushes to finalise its report in time for the upcoming Parliament session that is likely to begin on November 30.

Opposition members, in a letter to the panel chairperson and BJP leader Sanjay Jaiswal, said the committee should hold wider consultations with stakeholders across the country, arguing that the consequences of the Bill would be felt most acutely at the level of the individual parish, school, college, hospital, orphanage, and welfare home.

“The vast majority of these stakeholders have neither the means nor a realistic opportunity to travel to New Delhi and place their views before the committee,” the Opposition members wrote. The letter was signed by six members — P. Wilson of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; Congress’s Christopher Tilak, Captain Viriato Fernandes and Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed; and the Samajwadi Party’s Zia Ur Rehman Barq and Javed Ali Khan.

The invitees for Thursday’s meeting included the National Council of Churches in India and other Christian organisations, which strongly opposed the legislation, arguing that it would hamper their charitable work. At least five RSS-linked organisations were also invited to present their views. They argued in favour of the legislation, calling it a key step towards regulating foreign funding.

The Christian groups argued that, in the name of tighter monitoring of foreign funding, many vulnerable groups that receive support from charitable organisations would be denied help. They also argued that it impinges on their religious freedom. The Opposition members have requested that the Christian groups submit details of the charitable organisations they run that are dependent on foreign funding.

The RSS-linked organisations called for tighter provisions, including listing FCRA violations as a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), which is a core criminal law aimed at combating terror financing and money laundering.

Those who submitted their opinions before the committee included Apostles Methodist Church, National Council of Churches in India, Evangelical Church of India, Jesus Redeems, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Akhil Bhartiya Adhivakta Parishad, and Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, among others. Opposition members questioned how the RSS-linked groups that were invited qualified as stakeholders.

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 this year and referred to the committee on August 12, following consistent demands from Opposition parties, which alleged that certain provisions of the legislation were highly objectionable.