ON December 16, the leaders of various political parties in parliament, in a letter addressed to the prime minister, had condemned the government action in cancelling the FCRA registration of NGOs critical of its policies. 

The licenses had been earlier renewed showing that in the normal course these NGOs had fulfilled the criteria required for registration. The decision to cancel the registration is therefore a decision motivated by the politics of vendetta, victimisation and an effort to bully them to silence.

In contrast the government does not investigate a single RSS affiliated NGO who collect huge amounts of money abroad and then use it to further a hate filled agenda. Selective targeting is abhorrent and anti-democratic.

The leaders therefore demanded that the cancellation of licences to NGOs like Sabrang Trust and others run by Teesta Setalvad, ANHAD, Lawyers Collective, Greenpeace India, Navsarjan Trust, RDRC etc should be revoked and the licences restored.

The signatories to the letter include Sitaram Yechury and P Karunakaran of the CPI(M), D Raja of the CPI, Ahmed Patel and Renuka Chaudhury of the Congress, Premchand Gupta of RJD, Praful Patel and Supriya Sule of NCP, Neeraj Shekar of the Samajwadi Party and others.