Top CPI(M) leaders urge PM Modi to withdraw FCRA Amendment Bill 2026, flags 'executive overreach'

In a letter, MA Baby said the government’s "hostility" towards NGOs is evident in the series of amendments made to the FCRA since 2016.

New Delhi: Top CPI(M) leaders MA Baby and Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the withdrawal of the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2026, claiming it crosses the threshold from reasonable regulation to excessive control and enabling executive overreach.

In separate letters, CPI(M) General Secretary Baby and Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan raised concerns over provisions that allow the take over of assets, including religious places, over technical questions.

Baby said the party acknowledges the State’s prerogative to regulate the flow of foreign contributions to ensure transparency and national security but the proposed amendments, however, cross the threshold from reasonable regulation to excessive control, enabling executive overreach while Vijayan maintained that it is a matter involving anxieties of religious groups and minority communities.

Vijayan said the Bill can put the functioning of institutions, which are rendering selfless service in education, health and care of the poor and marginalised sections, in difficulty, even when there are no substantial lapses on their part.

In his letter, Baby said the government’s "hostility" towards NGOs is evident in the series of amendments made to the FCRA since 2016.

"The cumulative effect of these amendments has been to make the functioning of NGOs increasingly difficult. The 2026 Bill is a continuation of this trend, threatening to effectively ‘kill’ organisations that accept legitimate foreign contributions for charitable, educational, or human rights work," he said.

Claiming that the Bill provides "unfettered power of asset seizure via a designated authority", he said in many cases, assets are created through a mix of domestic and foreign funds but the proposed blanket takeover makes no provision for the protection of locally sourced assets.

"Granting the executive the power to permanently vest such assets, without adequate judicial oversight amounts to a punitive measure that goes far beyond the scope of regulatory oversight," he said.

He also said the Bill mandates that state governments must seek prior approval from the union government to initiate any FCRA-related investigation and this provision undermines the federal structure enshrined in the Constitution.

Baby said the Bill also places minority institutions under an excessively stringent regulatory framework, raising serious concerns about undue interference in their functioning.

"Provisions that allow the government to deny renewal or cancel licenses and assume control over the funds and properties of these institutions are a direct threat to constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, including the right to manage religious and linguistic minority institutions," he said.