Congress came down heavily on the Income-Tax Department searches at the Delhi offices of independent think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR), the Indian branch of global NGO Oxfam along with a media foundation Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) on Wednesday.
Reacting to the searches, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “It’s absolutely atrocious that research and advocacy organisations and independent charitable trusts like CPR, Oxfam and IPSMF have been raided at the behest of the government.”
He said that what is most bizarre is the searches at IPSMF, trustees of which are the biggest names in Indian business who by no means are political and certainly not sympathisers of the Congress or the opposition parties.
Ramesh said that some of the trustees are strong proponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I am aghast that a public charitable trust, which is funding independent digital media, has been raided. There is only one explanation that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are determined to exterminate all independent media and voices,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
Sources told The New Indian that the I-T department had carried out searches at the Delhi offices of independent think tank CPR and charity organisation Oxfam India.
The office of the CPR, located in the upscale Chanakyapuri area, was searched by the IT department sleuths in the afternoon. Similarly, the office of Oxfam is also being searched, sources said.
Besides the offices of the two organisations, the IT department sleuths are also conducting searches at the premises of IPSMF, which partly funds several digital media outlets.
Senior officials of the IT department remained tight-lipped on the development. Sources, however, said that the searches are in connection with searches at multiple locations across the country over the funding of more than 20 registered but non-recognised political parties.