Congress must clarify its Zakir Naik link: BJP youth wing

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) members on Monday staged a protest against the Congress party for allegedly accepting a donation from Zakir Naik's NGO through the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Congress has clarified that the amount was returned to the IRF in 2016.

BJYM had sought clarification from the Congress on its relations with Naik's NGO -- Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).

The BJYM posters had said that the donations were given to the RGF, but the Congress had made it clear that the money was not given to the RGF but to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT). It also said the amount was returned in 2016.

Hundreds of supporters of BJYM, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier gathered outside the office of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) for it allegedly receiving Rs 50 lakh donation from IRF in 2011.

They were detained by the Delhi Police and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station.

BJYM Delhi unit's Vice President Impreet Singh Bakshi told IANS: "The Congress leaders must clear their stand why the party received money from Naik's NGO."

"Congress President (Sonia Gandhi), Vice President (Rahul Gandhi) and Priyanka Gandhi must explain what they did with the money from 2011 till July 2016," he added.

The BJYM protesters asked Sonia to clarify her "party's relation with Naik".

On Saturday Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad had alleged that RGF, chaired by Sonia, had taken the donation and termed it a "bribe".

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala had countered the allegations saying that the money was not given to the RGF but to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT).

--IANS

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