As the opposition parties led by Congress are stalling the parliament over a US court’s indictment of the Adani group, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi in Rajya Sabha today raised the matter of foreign government-funded organisations repeatedly targeting India. He mentioned how a group named Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has been publishing reports targeting the Adani group and India before every parliamentary session, indicating a targeted attack.
He cited the report by French media house Mediapart on OCCRP, which stated that while the organisation claims to be an independent, non-partisan organisation, it is actually funded by US government agencies and works to serve their interests. Trivedi said that the project has funding from foreign governments and the project has focus on India. Apart from foreign governments, the project also has links with George Soros, the MP said.
According to Mediapart, OCCRP has received at least $47 million from the US government, $14 million from European countries (Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia and France) and $1.1 million from the European Union since its inception. The investigation by the media house revealed that government funding accounted for 70% of the annual budget of OCCRP between 2014 and 2023. 52% of the funds were provided by the US government alone.
However, OCCRP keeps the funding from the US secret and never reveals the same in its documents. Apart from the US and other governments, the group also receives funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF) of George Soros, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, all left-wing groups openly targeting nationalist governments worldwide.
Sudhanshu Trivedi also narrated how reports targeting India have been regularly appearing in foreign media just before the start of sessions of Indian parliament in the last 3 years. He said that reports on farmer protests were published ahead of the 2021 budget session, the Pegasus report came before the monsoon session of 2021, and the Hindenburg report targeting Adani was published when the budget session started in January 2023.
Similarly, a BBC documentary on Modi came before the session in January 2023, and then before the session started in July 2023, a video on Manipur violence was released. During the general elections this year, a report on COVID-19 vaccines was published, and then before the budget session of 2024, the second Hindenburg report came. Now, before the current session started, the American court’s report on Adani group came, Sudhanshu Trivedi told the house.
OCCRP issue raised in Parliament by Sudhanshu Trivedi ji.
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) December 5, 2024
US Govt and Soros funds OCCRP which runs propaganda in India. Congress and Journalists spread the propaganda.
Highlighted how narratives are strategically timed just before crucial events like parliamentary sessions or… pic.twitter.com/SBmIhMrCgQ
The MP said that ever since Narendra Modi-led government started the attempt to turn India into a developed nation, such attacks on India funded by foreign governments have increased. He also laid the Mediapart report on OCCRP in the house.
The opposition MPs created a ruckus over the comments of Trivedi, but Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said that the BJP MP has raised a very important issue, the country needs opinions from everyone on it. He said, “we can’t allow the largest democracy to be made dysfunctional by deep state anywhere else. This house should be united in neutralizing any threat, any initiative that is dangerous our sovereignty.”
Trivedi also cited that during the last general elections, Russia had revealed that there were attempts to influence the polls by a foreign government.
