Monday, August 31 – As Mohan Bhagwat visits Canada today, he is likely meeting not just members of the public, but donors to his organization’s transnational fundraising network.
To ensure public accountability on this question, Just Peace Advocates has filed a complaint with the Canada Revenue Agency asking it to examine the charitable status of 21 registered Canadian charities, including the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Canada, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of Canada, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Ontario and Sewa Canada International Aid Inc., over their ties to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization. The complaint, using data from Sciences Po’s Center for International Research (CERI), identifies approximately $46 million moving between RSS-affiliated organizations in Canada, and a further $21.5 million sent from those organizations to RSS-linked groups abroad.
At the center of the complaint is a question of eligibility. Canadian charity law requires that a registered charity deliver a benefit to the public, and purposes that discriminate on religious grounds or run contrary to public policy cannot be charitable. The complaint argues that organizations advancing an ideology built on the subordination of non-Hindu minorities cannot meet that standard, whatever their spending records show.
Over 40 Canadian civil society and community organizations have sent a letter calling on Minister Anandasangaree to bar Bhagwat from entering the country. Thousands of letters from individuals were also sent.
The RSS was founded in 1925 in India with the core mission of transforming India, a pluralistic society, into a majoritarian Hindu nation-state, marginalizing non-Hindu minority groups, including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits, and Adivasis (Indigenous Peoples). The RSS is not merely a cultural or religious organization. It is a century-old paramilitary brotherhood, the ideological and organizational parent of a vast network of groups collectively known as the Sangh Parivar. This includes the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), which has ruled India since 2014.
RSS’s sophisticated and opaque transnational network of organizations operates worldwide and harvests funds under the guise of charitable donations, while evading accountability, including, but not limited to, it seems the provisions of the Income Tax Act, as detailed below. Prime Minister Modi called the RSS “the world’s largest NGO” and a global database housed at Sciences Po’s Center for International Research (CERI), Seeing the Sangh, described its family of organizations as “the largest far-right network in history.” A recent report from Savera has documented the influence and operations of the RSS’s “Vishwa Vibhag” or “Overseas Department”, a secretive but influential unit that coordinates its operations abroad — even as the RSS insists that it operates only in India. This is ironic as the RSS and BJP have targeted NGOs in India for criticizing the government.
Meanwhile, RSS’s highly decentralized global structure with thousands of local “fronts” operates opaque funding pipelines. These pipelines allow capital, corporate donations and community charity funds to move across international borders with minimal regulatory oversight, obscuring the ultimate destination and use of the funds.
Just Peace Advocates has tracked the money flow of several RSS-affiliated organizations in Canada. While many are non-profits and therefore are not required to disclose their financial records, we identified 11 affiliated organizations with 21 registered Canadian charities. Four are core-Sangh organizations, three are Sangh-embedded, and four are Sangh allies.
Overall, we found approximately $46 million moving between RSS-affiliated organizations in Canada. Additionally, these Canadian, RSS-affiliated organizations also sent over $21.5 million to other RSS-linked groups outside of Canada.
The complaint cites evidence, including independent reporting and Indian government reports, that these groups have engaged in partisan activity, discriminatory behavior and/or violence.
The RSS Project has thoroughly documented these, and thousands of other, organizations ties to the RSS and its Hindu nationalist project. For decades, the RSS has propagated right wing Hindu nationalist ideology, resulting in communal polarization and open hostility towards India’s religious minorities.
Therefore, the CRA is asked to investigate all 21 charities and, if warranted, revoke all RSS-affiliated organizations. Canadian policy and law is clear: discrimination, including religious discrimination is barred. Therefore, any organizations affiliated with the Hindu-nationalist RSS fail to meet the Public Benefit Test, a requirement for all registered charities. Further, we have asked the CRA to investigate charities that appear to potentially be violating the Income Tax Act by failing to devote its resources to its own charitable activities, supporting non-qualified donees, and/or failing to file accurate T3010 returns.
Read more including quotes from other organizations, and background about the RSS.
Stay tuned for the full report, which will be published soon.
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