Govt ‘idiotically misinterpreted’ organisation’s reply: Sonam Wangchuk’s wife on FCRA license cancellation

While cancelling the FCRA licence of an organisation founded by Ladakh-based climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on September 25 said that the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (Secmol) received foreign funds to study the national sovereignty against the “national interest” and in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.

Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, however, alleged that the MHA had “idiotically misinterpreted” Secmol’s reply to the MHA’s notice and argued that the FCRA funds were meant for food sovereignty instead. Permits under the FCRA allow organisations to receive foreign funds.

“The MHA order misinterpreted the funds that came for food sovereignty as for a study on national sovereignty… It (our reply to the MHA notice on September 19) clearly says food sovereignty. They have idiotically misinterpreted it as the sovereignty of the nation. Based on frivolous and baseless charges, they have cancelled the FCRA licence,” Angmo, a mentor at Secmol and co-founder of Himalayan Institute of Alternative Learning (HIAL), told Newslaundry on the phone. HIAL’s land allotment was cancelled last month.

Wangchuk was detained on Friday under the stringent National Security Act and flown to the Jodhpur central jail in Rajasthan. The MHA had earlier accused the activist of making “provocative statements”, leading to the violence on September 24 during the protests demanding statehood for Ladakh and tribal status under the Sixth Schedule. Four people were killed and several were injured in police action during the violence. A day later, Secmol’s FCRA licence was cancelled.

Angmo said food sovereignty is part of pedagogy at the institute, where students learn agriculture and grow food grains. 

“Food sovereignty is part of pedagogy at Secmol, where children grow their own food through greenhouses instead of buying food from outside. That’s the model we propose every village in India should have. Rather than relying on the global supply chain, which exposes you to risks, the way forward for India to become self-reliant is reliance on local sustainability. This is taught to students at Secmol at the very initial level, and for that, you need initial funding for making a greenhouse, getting manure, and all the equipment,” Angmo said.  

A greenhouse is a solar-heated structure designed to let students grow food and learn farming all year round – even in harsh climates. Greenhouses are built using transparent plastic or glass, which traps heat from the sun and creates a warm environment inside, protecting plants from cold and allowing for a longer growing season.

She added that the Central government was deliberately tweaking facts and evidence to witch-hunt Wangchuk. “On all fronts, there is a deliberate attempt to misrepresent and tweak facts and evidence. The effort is to create a smokescreen by using big words such as CBI raids without telling us that nothing came out of the raid.” 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had last week visited Secmol and HIAL and sought details of foreign funds.

Wangchuk had been on a hunger strike for more than a month, seeking statehood for Ladakh. He called off his fast on Wednesday after the violence broke out. The Central government alleged that the mob was “incited” by Wangchuck with his “provocative statements”.

MHA order vs Secmol’s replies

On September 25, an MHA order signed by Deputy Secretary Rajesh Kumar T cancelled Secmol’s FCRA permit under section 14(1) of the Act. Among the five allegations listed in the order, one of them said the organisation used foreign funds for a study on the “sovereignty of the country”.

“Association (Secmol) in its reply admitted that the donor organization has given the donation for study on Sovereignty of the country including some other topics and the fund had also been spent in line with the objectives of the foreign donors. The Foreign Contribution cannot be accepted for study on Sovereignty of the nation. This act of the association is against the national interest of the Country in violation of section 12(4)()(0) of the Act,” read the order which contained the reply from Secmol on each count of allegation.

However, Secmol’s original reply sent to MHA on September 19 underwent a slight change when it was used in the government cancellation order six days later.

The Secmol reply said: “We received RS.4,93,205/- from Framstidjorden for educational program for youths under the FE project for creating awareness among youth on issues such as migration, climate change, global warming, food security and sovereignty, and organic farming through different workshops and trainings. The funds were utilized stricty in line with the organization's objectives and for the specific purposes for which they were allocated. Hence, all these activities were educational and there was no violation.”

The sum of Rs 4.93 lakh was received from Future Earth, a global network working on a sustainable future.

The MHA order quoted the exact reply of Secmol, except removing the comma after the word sovereignty. The order also capitalised “sovereignty”. MHA order instead said: “… issues such as migration, climate change, global warming, food security and Sovereignty and organic farming through different workshops and trainings”.

Angmo said the removal of the comma and capitalising the word sovereignty has taken the facts out of context. She said she would decide the next course of legal action after getting the detention order.

On MHA’s allegation that Wangchuk provoked protesters and the media reportage on invoking references to upheaval in Nepal and Bangladesh, she said his speeches were taken out of context and edited. “First of all, speeches are in Ladakhi, which they (media) have misunderstood and misinterpreted. Secondly, they have truncated them and taken them out of context.” She also said the police promised that they will have Wangchuk speak with her once he landed in Jodhpur. “The police have stopped answering my calls,” she said.

Among other charges listed in the cancellation order, the MHA said Wangchuk deposited Rs 3.5 lakh in Secmol’s FCRA account in violation of Section 17 of the Act in 2021-22. To this, Secmol replied that these proceeds were from the sale of a bus, which was procured from FCRA funds.

The MHA also alleged that Rs 54,600 in local funds were deposited in the FCRA account. Secmol countered it saying the local fund was meant for food and accommodation of volunteers and by mistake was deposited in the FCRA account.

The MHA further said that in 2020-21, “it has received foreign contribution of Rs 79,200. However, the same has not been credited in the FCRA bank account. It is suspected that such funds have been received in local bank accounts in contravention of section 17 of the Act.” In its reply, Secmol said the amount of Rs 79,200 was directly deducted from staff salaries and fellows stipends, and therefore no separate transaction took place. “Since. it was deducted at source as food fees, it was recorded in the books of accounts as food fee receipts, and the same amount was utilized towards food,” it said.

The MHA said the reply indicated that the FCRA account was not well-maintained. Rajkumar, additional director general with the Press Information Bureau and media in-charge of MHA, did not reply to Newslaundry’s calls and queries, asking him if the ministry tweaked Secmol's reply and misinterpreted it.

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