India

Greenpeace India’s registration cancelled

Greenpeace India on Friday claimed that its registration as a society has been cancelled by Registrar of Societies in Tamil Nadu and said the government’s “clumsy” tactics to suppress free speech was turning into a national and international embarrassment.

Greenpeace India, registered as an NGO in India under the Tamil Nadu Registrar of Societies (RoS), got the order of cancellation of its registration on Friday, although the order was formally issued on Wednesday.

“While several international leaders, including the United Nations Secretary General have recently upheld the importance of civil society in healthy democracies, this (cancellation) notice is the latest assault on free speech in India”, the NGO said in a statement.

Sources said that Greenpeace India will challenge this order in the Madras high court as early as possible.

“The RoS is clearly acting under directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Delhi, which has been trying to shut Greenpeace India down for over a year now,” said Vinuta Gopal, Interim Executive Director of the NGO. “The MHA’s clumsy tactics to suppress free speech and dissenting voices are turning into a major national and international embarrassment for this government. This is an extension of the deep intolerance for differing viewpoints that sections of this government seem to harbor,” she added.

It said for the last 18 months, Greenpeace India has endured repeated attempts at suppression through different government authorities.

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