Greenpeace India announced on Friday that it has received a notice from the Tamil Nadu Registrar of Societies cancelling its registration as a society. The NGO claimed the Ministry of Home Affairs was behind the move and called it "the latest assault on free speech in India" and a demonstration of the government's "intolerance for dissent".

Greenpeace India’s interim executive director Vinuta Gopal said in a press release, "The MHA's clumsy tactics to suppress free speech and dissenting voices are turning into a major national and international embarrassment for this government. This is an extension of the deep intolerance for differing viewpoints that sections of this government seem to harbor." The NGO said it had faith in the legal process and is "confident of overcoming this order".

The development comes two months after the central government had cancelled the registration of environmental organisation under the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act, thereby barring it from receiving funds from abroad. The government had claimed that the organisation's activities had hampered the country's economic growth.