RSS hits back at US over stand on foreign NGOs

NEW DELHI: Days after the US hit out at Modi government over its action against two international NGOs, the RSS on Sunday reacted strongly, saying it should “respect” India’s sovereignty and asked whether it was “the global police of democracy”.

Charging the NGOs like Greenpeace and Ford Foundation with violating Indian laws, the RSS questioned US’ defence of the two organisations and chided it for “jumping the gun”.

The RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ in its editorial titled “The un-civil intervention”, has also questioned whether the United States would allow such violations by so-called non-profit and non-political NGOs in their own country.

The outfit has said that by coming out in defence of NGOs like Greenpeace and Ford Foundation by seeking a clarification from India, the “global protector of democratic rights” has ratified the fears of such NGOs being US agencies, as alleged by some of the research works in the US.

“If the US or for that matter any country wants to come clean on the issue of foreign funding for raising ‘rights based issues’, they have to respect the sovereignty and cultural ethos of the home country.

“Otherwise, NGOism will always be perceived as another un-civil instrument of foreign policy intervention in the name of civil society,” it said.