Foreign Funding Licence of Sonam Wangchuk’s NGO Scrapped Day After Ladakh Violence
A day after violent protests over statehood demands rocked Ladakh, the Union Home Ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of the prominent educational NGO founded by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, citing multiple violations of the law . The government has squarely blamed Wangchuk’s “provocative” speeches for inciting the mob violence on Wednesday that left four people dead and scores injured .
The Home Ministry’s order, issued with immediate effect, targets the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), an influential institute Wangchuk co-founded in 1988 . The cancellation comes after a CBI inquiry was initiated into the NGO’s finances about 10 days ago, following a complaint from the ministry . The government alleged that Wangchuk’s references to the Arab Spring and Nepal’s Gen Z protests incited mobs to attack the BJP office and other government buildings in Leh .
Wangchuk, however, has dismissed the allegations as a “scapegoat tactic” to divert attention from the core issues behind the protests . “To say it was instigated by me… is to find a scapegoat, rather than addressing the core of the problem, and this will lead us nowhere,” he told news agency PTI, adding he was prepared to face arrest .
The ministry’s order lists several alleged FCRA violations by SECMOL, including irregular deposits, mixing local and foreign funds, and accepting foreign funds for a study on “sovereignty,” which the government deemed to be “against the national interest” .
Specifically, the MHA flagged a Rs 3.5 lakh deposit by Wangchuk himself into the FCRA account, the deposit of local funds totaling Rs 54,600, and receiving Rs 4.9 lakh from a Swedish organization for a program that included a study on “sovereignty” . The ministry found the NGO’s explanations for these discrepancies “not tenable” and concluded that the association’s activities were “likely to be used for undesirable purposes”
