Bengaluru: Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is in the news for all the wrong reasons. The foundation is alleged to have received huge sums of money as donation from various sources, including China. 

As the allegations increase, the Union home ministry has formed an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into alleged violation of various legal provisions of PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA and others by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. The Special Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) will head the committee.

 

And as the committee was formed to investigate the allegations, Congress has hit back saying that rather than fighting China, COVID-19 and revive the economy, all the Government wants to do is fight Congress. 

 

The BJP has alleged that the Foundation had received a donation of Rs 90 lakh from the Chinese Embassy in India in 2006-07. While Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the trust, senior party leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra serve as trustees. 

Moreover, the BJP president JP Nadda shared documents to show that the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund money had been donated to the RGF.

Also Read: Donation to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation raises eyebrows

The foundation was founded in 1991 and claims to work on issues ranging from education to disability to natural resource management.

It was also reported that Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister in the year 1991, had tried allocating Rs 100 crore to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. 

He had said, "As a homage to the late Shri Rajiv Gandhi and in support of the laudable objectives of the Foundation, Government has decided to contribute Rs 100 crore to the Foundation at the rate of Rs 20 crores per annum for a period of five years beginning from the current year.” 
 
However, it should be noted that the Foundation appreciated the generous sum but it thought that the government should itself invest the funds in suitable projects.
And as the party struggled to defend itself against allegations of money embezzlement and donations, it had come to light China, which hosted the Olympics in the year 2008, did not invite the PM but extended it to Sonia Gandhi, the AICC chief.
Incidentally, the then Chinese President Hu Jintao met Sonia Gandhi to sign an MoU, which has become the talk of the town.
The Congress does have a lot to answer!