China funded Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, says BJP; asks Congress to explain

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 25

Launching yet another scathing attack on the Congress and the Gandhi family, the BJP on Thursday claimed that China had funded the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Armed with documentary proof, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress needed to explain why the Chinese Embassy donated about Rs 90 lakh to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Also read: Why hasn’t India benefitted from your ‘strange bonhomie’ with China, Cong asks PM

“They (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) are attacking the Narendra Modi government and supporting China because of these donations to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation,” Prasad said, also suggesting the Congress pushed for a comprehensive free-trade agreement between the two countries, causing grave economic losses to the country.

“First, they give away land to China, then they take Rs 90 lakh as a charity. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was nothing but an extension of the Congress. Did they take permission before taking money? Did they inform the government why they had taken the money?” Prasad asked, calling it a gross violation of rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, a petition has also been filed before the Supreme Court to seek probe into the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Congress and the Communist Party of China signed in 2008.

Prasad claimed not just the Embassy of The Peoples Republic of China in India but even the Government of the People’s Republic of China is a donor to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Making similar allegations earlier, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya also tweeted that “Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the Chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, P.Chidambaram and Priyanka Vadra sit on its board.”

Prasad said the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation did several studies on how an FTA between India and China was desirable and required. Studies argued that India needed the FTA much more than China and should pursue it as part of its efforts to improve bilateral relations.

Under the UPA, the overall trade deficit with China increased 33 times from $1.1 billion in 2003-04 to $36.2 billion in 2013-14, Malviya also wrote.

Asking whether the donations to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had any connection with the MoU signed between the Congress and the CPC in 2008, the BJP is asking “full disclosure” from the Congress.

These donations to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, if you could still call them that, did have any connection with the MoU signed between the Congress and the CPC in 2008, it said.

Speaking during the Madhya Pradesh Jan Samvad Rally, BJP president JP Nadda said he was amazed that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received money from China.

“I saw television and I was shocked and surprised to know that the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Embassy gave $3,00,000 to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) in 2005-06,” he claimed.

“This is the secret relation of Congress and China,” he said.

Accusing Rahul Gandhi of trying to “divide the nation and demoralise” the armed forces during crucial situations, Nadda said: “First, the Congress signs an MoU with the Chinese Communist Party, then the Congress surrenders land to China. During the Doklam issue, Rahul Gandhi secretly went to the Chinese embassy and during crucial situations, he tries to divide the nation and demoralise armed forces. Effects of the MoU?”

Sonia Gandhi was the chairperson of RGF, while former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and P Chidambaram were members of the board when the donation was made, he said.

“The country wants to know why the funds were given to the Foundation? What studies were carried out for that nation?” Nadda said.

Nadda, in his remarks, said: “Due to the mistakes of one family we lost 43,000 sq kilometres,” adding the Congress had no moral right to speak about India's security.

He also alleged that during Doklam stand-off between India and China in 2017, bonhomie prevailed between Rahul Gandhi and Chinese officials in Delhi.

Due to weak Congress governments in the past, China was in possession of Indian land, the BJP chief alleged.

He also alleged that amid tensions in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control and the coronavirus crisis, the Congress was not playing the role of a responsible opposition.

Congress terms RGF donation issue an attempt to divert people’s attention

Responding to the claims by the BJP, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “Please stop living in 2005 and start answering questions in 2020.”

At a press conference, he said when the country wants to know answers on the issues concerning securing the borders and Chinese transgression, the BJP is trying to divert the attention of the nation.

Attempts were being made to divert the attention from issues of national security, territorial integrity and the Chinese transgression in Indian territory, he said.

Later, Surjewala also told PTI: “This (making allegations) is an act of classical BJP’s desperation, diversion and disinformation and should be rejected with the contempt it deserves.”

Meanwhile, the Congress sources said in 2005, there was an equivalent matching grant given by the governments of India and China to the RGF for helping the disabled as also undertaking studies by researchers on Indo-China relationship.

The grant had been duly audited by the Income Tax department and all other authorities, the sources said. — With inputs from PTI

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