A 31-member joint committee of the two Houses of Parliament was constituted on Thursday to examine the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, with BJP’s Sanjay Jaiswal named as its chairperson.
It also has two members each from JD(U), TMC and DMK, and one member each from SP, IUML, Shiv Sena, NCP (SP), NCP and TDP. It comprises 14 members of BJP and five of Congress.
The government rejected the charge and challenged the opposition parties to identify even one provision that discriminated against minorities. Congress’ Lok Sabha members who are part of the panel are Anto Antony, Captain Viriato Fernandes, Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed and Kali Charan Munda. Praful Patel (NCP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U), Christopher Manickam (Congress), Menaka Guruswamy (TMC) and P Wilson (DMK) are the other members of the panel from the Rajya Sabha.
On August 12, Parliament had sent the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill to a joint committee amid protests by opposition parties, which alleged that the proposed law targeted minorities and NGOs, and demanded its withdrawal.
