Anticipating Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s presence in the House and the likely introduction of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, on August 10, the Opposition has taken steps to ensure maximum attendance and display its collective strength. On Friday afternoon, the Congress issued a three-line whip directing all its Lok Sabha MPs to be present from August 10 to 12, with other Opposition parties expected to follow. The Monsoon Session is set to end on August 13, and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has stated there are currently no plans to extend it.
During a meeting at Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s office on Friday morning, Congress leaders urged allies to ensure full attendance starting Monday, according to sources. The FCRA Bill has drawn controversy, particularly due to concerns raised by Christian organizations regarding a provision that would grant a government-designated authority retrospective powers over the assets of groups whose FCRA registrations have expired. However, the government has assured that the bill won’t have any retrospective provision for this.
Opposition parties have slammed the bill terming it an attempt to cripple NGOs. Parties like Samajwadi Party and Left have already said that they will support the united agenda of the opposition.
CPI National General Secretary, D. Raja said: “There are serious apprehensions. Many NGOs and civil society organisations have expressed serious concerns that their work will suffer and that their functioning will be crippled. That is what the government is trying to do.”
NCP-SP national spokesperson Naseem Siddiqui made similar allegations, saying that the aim behind tabling of the FCRA Bill is that the Centre “wants to control the charity works being done by the Christian and Muslim communities in the country”.
“We are against the Bill, because the money is being spent for the development of the nation, including education. If members of the Muslim community get money from abroad to spent on education of children here, then the government should not have an objection to it,” he added.
While maintaining that there should not be a problem in accepting genuine foreign funds, YSRCP MP Golla Babu Rao opined that a centralised agency will be useful to check that such funds aren’t misused.
“I think the BJP-led government has some apprehensions that these funds will be misused in the country and may be sent with malafide intentions. But belonging from a humble family and being an educated person, I feel there is nothing wrong in accepting funds from abroad though at the same time there should be a centralised agency that can check that the funds are not misused,” he said.
