FCRA Bill Headed To JPC Amid Opposition Onslaught

New Delhi:The government is considering sending the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament for further examination, while the Congress and some other opposition parties have demanded its withdrawal.

The Congress and the TMC were among the parties that raised the issue during the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha, though it was not part of the agenda. They asked when the FCRA Bill would be taken up in the House, to which the government responded that a decision would be taken in due course, sources said on Tuesday.

DMK leaders Tiruchi Siva and P. Wilson later said the party wanted the Bill to be withdrawn completely. The party also voiced its stand during the BAC meeting.

Government sources said it was considering sending the Bill to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament and that a motion might be brought in the Lok Sabha in this regard on Wednesday.

The opposition parties, which have raised strong objections to the FCRA Bill, allege that it targets minorities, as certain provisions would choke legitimate funding for Christian NGOs and minority-run social welfare and educational institutions.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma and leading Christian organisations had earlier urged the Centre to refer the contentious Bill to a joint committee of Parliament for detailed examination. Lalduhoma and representatives of Christian organisations had met home minister Amit Shah and expressed their concerns over the proposed legislation.

DMK MP Wilson also led a delegation of Church leaders to Union home minister Amit Shah, seeking the withdrawal of the amendment Bill and the repeal of Section 15 of the existing law. DMK chief M.K. Stalin also urged the Centre to withdraw the FCRA Bill.

The Bill seeks to create a designated authority to manage and dispose of assets if an organisation loses its FCRA licence. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 this year and proposes tighter government oversight of non-governmental organisations and foreign funding in the country. However, the government has made it clear that the proposed legislation is not religion-specific and is aimed at regulating foreign contributions.

Voicing strong concerns over the proposed amendment Bill, Congress leader K C Venugopal had alleged that it targeted minorities and NGOs and said the Opposition would not allow it to be passed. “Even if Amit Shah comes to pass this anti-people Bill, there is no doubt that he will have to face strong protests in Parliament. This Bill is unconstitutional and anti-people. We will not allow such an anti-people and unconstitutional Bill to be passed,” Venugopal had said.

Some US lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties, including Senator James Risch, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have voiced concerns over the planned changes to the FCRA, saying they could adversely affect Christian organisations and other civil society groups. India, however, rejected the criticism, describing the legislation as an internal matter.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the proposed changes to the FCRA were an internal legislative matter for India, while India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the amendments were aimed at bringing in greater transparency and required organisations to receive money through a laid-down process.

In a series of posts on X, Kwatra said on Sunday that regulating foreign financial flows in public and political spaces was a sovereign step driven by national security concerns. He cited similar laws enacted by the US and other countries for this purpose.

“The US has had FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) since 1938 and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) since 2010. Australia legislated in 2018, Canada in 2024. The UK’s scheme came into force in July 2025. The EU is legislating now,” he added.

The meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday was chaired by Chairman C P Radhakrishnan and attended by parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, Leader of the House J P Nadda, and opposition leaders, including Jairam Ramesh (Congress), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Sasmit Patra (BJD).

During the meeting, the BAC allotted two hours for ‘The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026’, three hours for ‘The National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026’, and 1.5 hours for ‘The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026’.