New Delhi
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he Modi government has struck back at one of its staunchest critics and former top law officer of the UPA Government Indira Jaising. The former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in the UPA II, Jaising is now defending in Supreme Court another Modi baiter, Teesta Seetlawad in a case of alleged embezzlement of foreign donations received for Gujarat riot victims.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a notice to the Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by Jaisingh, asking it to furnish various details related to the receipt and utilization of foreign funds.
Indira Jaising had all along been in the news. Last time when she hit the headlines was when she signed on a petition urging President Pranab Mukherjee to give clemency to Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon.
Lawyers Collective, is engaged in the field of women rights, drug policy and abuse and health issues.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]E[/dropcap]ver since it came to power, the Modi government has gone after NGOs in a big way. More than 10,000 NGOs have been blacklisted during the last one year. The Government has also cracked down on international NGOs such as the Greenpeace. The Modi government feels that many of these NGOs are funded by foreign powers and institutions to derail the development of the nation by moiling mass protest against projects, especially in the field of hydro power generation and construction activities.
The notice dated November 5, 2015 came on the compliant of one Raj Kumar Sharma, resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, who wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in August 2015 seeking inquiry against “Lawyers Collective” of Indira Jaising for receiving huge sums as donations from controversial foreign donors like Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundation of George Soros.
The Letter claims that the “Lawyers Collective” an NGO run by Indira Jaising and her husband, Anand Grover (Lawyer of Yakub Menon) received ₹28.5 crores ($4.31 million) in foreign donation since 2006, in which ₹7.2 crore ($1.1 million) was received from Ford Foundation USA, ₹4.1 crore ($620,000) was from a highly controversial, ‘regime change’ US-based donor i.e. Open Society Foundation (of George Soros).
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he letter sent to MHA states – “The data collected through RTI shows that the Lawyers Collective started receiving money from controversial regime change organization like “Lavi Strauss foundation”, USA and “Foundation open society institute”, Switzerland after Jaising in 2008-09 became Additional Solicitor General of India. LC was established for human rights advocacy, legal aid and litigation; however, the data also shows that a US based organization “Campaign for Tobacco free Kids” also funded LC and increased its funding during her period as ASG, from ₹43.30 lakhs ($65,000) in 2008-09 to ₹64.30 lakhs ($97,000) in 2009-10 and further to ₹99.92 lakhs ($150,000) in 2010-11.”
The reports say that Lavi Strauss Foundation and Open Society Institute are infamous for their “Regime Change” activities in many nations.
Incidentally, the flow of the donations to LC started increasing after 2008-2009, a year in which Indira Jaising was made Additional Solicitor General.
Currently Jaising is representing activist Teesta Setalvad in Supreme Court, Teesta has been accused of collecting money from foreign sources for Gujarat riot victims and diverting them for personal purposes.
A copy of the letter sent is shown below:
Note:
1. The conversion rate used in this article is 1 USD = 66.16 Rupees.
2. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
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Ms Jaisingh has not been singled out to be aked some question Her husband Mr Grover has clarified this is routine.