New Delhi: Former Secretary to the Government of India, E.A.S. Sarma has written to the Union revenue secretary Arvind Shrivastava and asked whether the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) should investigate how the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) allegedly engaged a US lobbying firm by paying $330,000 and whether the funds received by the organisation should be liable to domestic taxes.
In his letter, Sarma referred to a public disclosure made by a US lobbying firm, Squire Patton Boggs to the US Senate, which said RSS has engaged it to lobby with US public functionaries. He also referred to news reports that said that the lobbying firm was paid by another lobbying firm, on behalf of the RSS $330,000 this year.
Sarma said that it is “surprising” that RSS which is not registered in India and is funded exclusively by donations or “Guru Dakshina” made by its members should be in a position to pay such a sum in the US.
“When RSS is not registered in India, how has it paid dollars in its name to a US lobbying firm? Is RSS registered under some law in the USA? If the so-called “Guru Dakshina” is the exclusive source of funds for RSS, is it appropriate for that organisation to divert a portion of such Guru Dakshina funds to a foreign lobbying firm?” Sarma asked in his letter.
“According to the Sanatana Dharma definition, “Guru dakshina refers to the traditional offering or fee given by a student to a guru in gratitude for the knowledge received” (https://www.vedadhara.com/guru-dakshina). Are those “students” who have funded RSS by giving it Guru Dakshina offerings, aware that a portion of the contributions made by them in gratitude to their RSS Masters has been diverted to a foreign firm for lobbying in the USA?” he further asked.
Sarma said in his letter that in the past, the Income Tax tribunals, while adjudicating the liability of tax on RSS’s funds had appreciated “the true spirit of gratitude that underlies the idea of a Guru Dakshina” and granted tax exemption to funds collected by RSS.
“However, the very character of such funds undergoes a paradigm change when the Guru’ diverts a portion of those funds to pay a foreign firm for lobbying with a foreign government, if one can take the liberty of interpreting ‘lobbying’ as ‘educating’ the foreign public functionaries,” he wrote.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
