It seems like little has changed between March and July, as far as governance goes, despite May bringing what many have called a generation-defining election result. Scroll has previously addressed some of the ways in which this administration has wavered from what it promised. Now one of the chief pre-election supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is saying the same.
Madhu Kishwar, author of the flattery-filled Modinama and a senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, threw down the gauntlet on Wednesday. “There are elements in the present government that are doing their best to protect the UPA scamsters,” Kishwar said at a press conference. “There is some vindictive action going on…We assume that the previous regime, and its means and efforts are still alive.”
Kishwar was miffed that the new government has persisted with an inquiry into foreign donations to Manushi, an organisation she set up in 1978 that publishes a journal about women’s issues. The inquiry was initiated in the last few weeks of the outgoing UPA government.
Sitting next to senior lawyer and former minister Ram Jethmalani, who is also estranged from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kishwar insisted that she would not cooperate with the government on a probe unless they gave her more information about why she was being investigated.
Kishwar has even threatened to use civil disobedience to find justice in this matter, but it’s not the only reason that the pro-Modi crusader is annoyed with the new government. There have been plenty more:
Smriti Irani
Dissent began with the appointment of a human resource development minister who lacked educational qualifications beyond high school. “Smriti Irani merely class 12 pass. Went to bcm fashion model on to tv serial bahu. Is this qualification enf 4 India's Education Minister?” Kishwar tweeted soon after the cabinet had been sworn in.
This line of critique would spill from Twitter onto newspapers and TV channels. It would end with Kishwar calling Irani an agent of the Left.
Delhi University
The Kishwar-Irani face off then graduated to a fight about Delhi University’s Four-Year Undergraduate Programme and DU’s Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh. Although the HRD ministry officially maintains distance from the university, with the University Grants Commission calling the shots, Kishwar felt that the hounding of the VC and calls to roll back FYUP were part of Irani’s agenda to help leftists.
Kishwar tweeted, “Many incompetent VCs in India. But new HRD minister chose to bring down DU VC who is among most serious about improving teaching standards.”
Intelligence Bureau report on NGOs
Kishwar and the central government appear to agree that foreign-funded non-governmental organisations deserve to be probed. Both think that these organisations’ agenda do not have India’s best interests at heart.
But Kishwar believed the Intelligence Bureau’s secret report on the NGOs, which singled out Greenpeace, was not only a ham-handed approach to the problem but also missed the real culprits.
NDTV-Chidambaram allegations
In January, Kishwar alleged that news channel NDTV was involved in a “mega money-laundering scam” with then-finance minister P Chidambaram, involving Rs 5,500 crore. She would later be sent a legal notice because of these allegations, although this, according to Kishwar was not pursued. (NDTV, however, says it has initiated legal action and the company is looking "forward to meeting her in court”.)
Two months since Narendra Modi has taken charge, however, little has happened, which Kishwar claims is because of elements within the current government that want to protect UPA-era players like Chidambaram.
“Some deeply entrenched vested interests continue to have a hold,” she said at the press conference. “This is one example of the failure of the Modi government.”
Manushi Probe
Kishwar has been leading a campaign to look into the foreign funds that go to NGOs in India, but she was surprised when her own organisation received a notice under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in March. She claims this was part of a vendetta against her by the UPA. She expected the probe to go away under the new government, but instead, she has been asked to keep her papers ready for inspection from July 21.
Kishwar promised before the election that this prime minister and government would be fair, decisive and transparent. But she now claims that her repeated attempts to find out the reason she is being probed, including RTI requests and attempts to meet the home secretary, have failed.
“To me it’s very strange that an organisation at the forefront of a campaign against foreign NGOs, would be served an FCRA notice,” she told reporters. “I didn’t expect anything like this after the new government came, and certainly didn’t expect my RTIs to go unanswered. If they really feel the UPA was right, and I take it as an insult, then they should come out and tell me why I’m being probed.”
She has now promised that, unless the government explained the reason behind the FCRA notice, she will refuse to cooperate with authorities. “We expect a Narendra Modi-led government to end the culture of secrecy, vendetta and high-handedness. Instead, it should practice the kind of transparency, lawfulness and honesty it expects from citizens,” Kishwar said.
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Madhu Kishwar, author of the flattery-filled Modinama and a senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, threw down the gauntlet on Wednesday. “There are elements in the present government that are doing their best to protect the UPA scamsters,” Kishwar said at a press conference. “There is some vindictive action going on…We assume that the previous regime, and its means and efforts are still alive.”
Kishwar was miffed that the new government has persisted with an inquiry into foreign donations to Manushi, an organisation she set up in 1978 that publishes a journal about women’s issues. The inquiry was initiated in the last few weeks of the outgoing UPA government.
Sitting next to senior lawyer and former minister Ram Jethmalani, who is also estranged from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kishwar insisted that she would not cooperate with the government on a probe unless they gave her more information about why she was being investigated.
Kishwar has even threatened to use civil disobedience to find justice in this matter, but it’s not the only reason that the pro-Modi crusader is annoyed with the new government. There have been plenty more:
Smriti Irani
Dissent began with the appointment of a human resource development minister who lacked educational qualifications beyond high school. “Smriti Irani merely class 12 pass. Went to bcm fashion model on to tv serial bahu. Is this qualification enf 4 India's Education Minister?” Kishwar tweeted soon after the cabinet had been sworn in.
This line of critique would spill from Twitter onto newspapers and TV channels. It would end with Kishwar calling Irani an agent of the Left.
Delhi University
The Kishwar-Irani face off then graduated to a fight about Delhi University’s Four-Year Undergraduate Programme and DU’s Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh. Although the HRD ministry officially maintains distance from the university, with the University Grants Commission calling the shots, Kishwar felt that the hounding of the VC and calls to roll back FYUP were part of Irani’s agenda to help leftists.
Kishwar tweeted, “Many incompetent VCs in India. But new HRD minister chose to bring down DU VC who is among most serious about improving teaching standards.”
Intelligence Bureau report on NGOs
Kishwar and the central government appear to agree that foreign-funded non-governmental organisations deserve to be probed. Both think that these organisations’ agenda do not have India’s best interests at heart.
But Kishwar believed the Intelligence Bureau’s secret report on the NGOs, which singled out Greenpeace, was not only a ham-handed approach to the problem but also missed the real culprits.
NDTV-Chidambaram allegations
In January, Kishwar alleged that news channel NDTV was involved in a “mega money-laundering scam” with then-finance minister P Chidambaram, involving Rs 5,500 crore. She would later be sent a legal notice because of these allegations, although this, according to Kishwar was not pursued. (NDTV, however, says it has initiated legal action and the company is looking "forward to meeting her in court”.)
Two months since Narendra Modi has taken charge, however, little has happened, which Kishwar claims is because of elements within the current government that want to protect UPA-era players like Chidambaram.
“Some deeply entrenched vested interests continue to have a hold,” she said at the press conference. “This is one example of the failure of the Modi government.”
Manushi Probe
Kishwar has been leading a campaign to look into the foreign funds that go to NGOs in India, but she was surprised when her own organisation received a notice under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in March. She claims this was part of a vendetta against her by the UPA. She expected the probe to go away under the new government, but instead, she has been asked to keep her papers ready for inspection from July 21.
Kishwar promised before the election that this prime minister and government would be fair, decisive and transparent. But she now claims that her repeated attempts to find out the reason she is being probed, including RTI requests and attempts to meet the home secretary, have failed.
“To me it’s very strange that an organisation at the forefront of a campaign against foreign NGOs, would be served an FCRA notice,” she told reporters. “I didn’t expect anything like this after the new government came, and certainly didn’t expect my RTIs to go unanswered. If they really feel the UPA was right, and I take it as an insult, then they should come out and tell me why I’m being probed.”
She has now promised that, unless the government explained the reason behind the FCRA notice, she will refuse to cooperate with authorities. “We expect a Narendra Modi-led government to end the culture of secrecy, vendetta and high-handedness. Instead, it should practice the kind of transparency, lawfulness and honesty it expects from citizens,” Kishwar said.