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FCRA bill sent to JPC amid Opposition uproar, Amit Shah’s debate offer rejected: 'We are ready vs man lacks courage'
The FCRA amendment bill was referred to a 31-member JPC amid Opposition protests, while Amit Shah’s offer to discuss student protests was rejected.
A bill proposing controversial amendments to India’s foreign contribution law was referred to a 31-member joint committee of Parliament on Wednesday amid a standoff between the government and the Opposition and repeated disruptions in the House.
The penultimate day of the monsoon session began with Union home minister Amit Shah saying he was ready for a discussion on students’ protests and police action, only for the Opposition – which has been demanding his statement in the House and another debate on the Ram Temple donation row – to rebuff the offer.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government is ready for discussions. The House should be allowed to run, the Opposition should submit a letter to the speaker by 2pm today. We are ready to start discussion at 3pm today,” Shah said in a rare media interaction outside Parliament.
Deep Dive
Also read: FCRA amendments: What the new bill proposes, and why it has sparked pushback
Opposition rejects Shah’s offer for Parliament debate
Shah also wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla conveying the government’s readiness to participate in the discussion, only for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to call it a “last-minute attempt” and say that the Opposition was not interested in listening to Shah’s lecture.
The monsoon session is set to end on Thursday. The government indicated that it will not be extended and added that the Opposition’s views will be sought.
Introduced in the previous session but held back at the time, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill triggered major controversy with the Opposition, several church delegations and three chief ministers of Christian-majority states raising concerns.
31-member panel to examine contentious amendments
Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai and not Shah, as originally listed in the supplementary list of business introduced a resolution in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday afternoon to form the 31-member JPC with 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member is expected to lead the panel.
The Opposition, which tried to pressurise the government to scrap the bill said it will join the JPC. “Even in the JPC, we will continue to strongly oppose this bill and will not allow these unconstitutional and coercive provisions to become law,” said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal.
“On one side, the RSS is getting donations from foreign countries, while on the other side, the government is trying to target minorities and NGOs. The government should withdraw this bill,” he added.
Also read: Centre eyes consensus on sending foreign funding bill to JPC amid demands for complete withdrawal
Rijiju defends JPC move, accuses Opposition of avoiding debate
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju hit back, saying that the Congress and others had been demanding for days that the bill be referred to a JPC.
“Yet, even when we are referring such an important bill (to a panel), these people have objections. If KC Venugopal or a member of any other party finds anything objectionable in this bill, or if there is any point they wish to oppose, they can present their views in the JPC. The JPC will have sufficient time; hearings will be held, and other people will also be invited to participate. Instead of being pleased about this, they are speaking against it.”
The minister denied any pressure on the government to refer the contentious bill to a House panel and argued that the decision was taken to allow extensive discussion.
Later in the day, he attacked the Opposition.
Also read: FCRA bill may impact Christian groups, Nagaland CM tells Amit Shah
Shah, Gandhi trade sharp remarks over student protests
“I am totally frustrated. For the first time in my life, I am witnessing a scenario where the government wants a discussion in Parliament, yet the Opposition is running away from it. It is hard to imagine this, because in a parliamentary democracy, it is the Opposition that demands a discussion while the government provides the answers,” Rijiju told reporters.
“We are saying that if the Congress states even tomorrow morning at 11:00am that they are ready for the discussion, we will extend the time. You should ask Congress why they got scared and why they fled,” he added.
He also referred to Shah’s letter to Birla, where the home minister said that Rijiju – on behalf of the government during the business advisory committee meeting – gave consent for a discussion in Parliament on student protests.
“I would also like to mention that earlier, at the request of the Opposition, a discussion has already taken place in the current session of Parliament on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in which no honourable Member of Parliament from the Opposition expressed any views in the House regarding the NEET examination. Despite this, the government is ready to discuss this issue once again,” Shah said in the letter written in Hindi.
The minister has asserted that he wanted to be present in the House during the scheduled time to participate in the discussion and was ready to answer all questions. “Solutions emerge only through discussion and dialogue in a democracy. I have unwavering faith in democracy and democratic institutions, and it is my belief that this House is meant precisely for discussion and dialogue,” he wrote.
But the Opposition dismissed the offer. Gandhi alleged that Shah lacked the courage to come to Parliament, reiterating the demand that Shah come to the House and speak on police excesses at Jantar Mantar.
“The Opposition has clearly said that we are not interested in Amit Shah giving us a lecture. When I say ‘we’, I mean the younger generation of this country. Who shot the students? Who gave the order to beat up the students with lathis with nails? Did Amit Shah give this order to shoot our children? If he did, then he should resign. For the last 20 days, Amit Shah has been missing. The home minister of India has no courage; he cannot come to the House,” Gandhi said.
“When a man lacks the courage to speak the truth, his silence speaks for him. Amit Shah’s silence is his confession,” he added.
Formed to review a bill, a joint committee of Parliament initially gets three months’ time but is allowed extensions. Currently, Parliament has 18 such panels.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the previous session but was not brought for passage after protests by the Opposition and controversy in then poll-bound Kerala. The bill had evoked sharp reactions from Opposition leaders, particularly Kerala lawmakers, as Christian groups alleged they might be targeted under the new law.
Also read: Nagaland CM urges Shah to reconsider FCRA amendments, seeks parliamentary panel review
Bill proposes wider government control over NGO assets
The amendments establish a designated authority for “a comprehensive framework for vesting, supervision, management and disposal of foreign contribution and assets, including provisional and permanent vesting.” A provision stated that the government can appoint a “designated authority” to take over, manage, or sell assets created from foreign funds by a non-governmental organisation whose licence under FCRA was cancelled, suspended, or simply not renewed.
The bill plans to do away with section 15 of the current act that limits the scope of the authority to manage the activities of the organisation, utilise foreign contribution or dispose of the assets created out of it, in case adequate funds are not available for running such an activity.
In the meeting of opposition parties on Wednesday morning, it was decided that the parties will participate in the JPC panel and not repeat their boycott of the panel on the set of bills to automatically remove ministers if arrested for 30 days. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said he told the opposition leaders, “We can’t repeat the same mistake”.
