Vinay“What is the purpose of your visit?” is perhaps the most unsettling question to hear from an immigration officer when you’re returning to your own country.
I flew into #Bangalore late last night after a gap of over a year. I have never understood why, but #India questions its own citizens before entering or leaving the country.
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“Where do you work?”
“Kenya”
“What’s the name of the organisation?”
“It’s a nonprofit called Maisha Meds”
“NGO?”
“Yes”
“What area of work is the NGO involved in?”
“Healthcare ”
“Does the NGO receive funds from governments?”
“Yes, we do” (We’ve received grants from USAID, for one)
“Are they paying you for this trip?”
(Confused) “Uh, no”
“What is the purpose of your visit?”
(More confused) “I’m just here to visit my family”
“What’s your local address and phone number?”
...
“It’s been a year since your last visit”
“Er, yes?”
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I’ve skipped many questions for brevity, but my heart sank with each question. In the absence of any context or explanation for the questioning on the nature of my work, I tried to recollect instances of such questioning that have been in the news.
That’s when it dawned on me - The #Modi government is incredibly touchy about criticism on the global stage (I find the image of a Ministry of External Affairs bureaucrat writing up a press statement over a tweet by Rihanna on the farmer protests [1] pathetically hilarious) and utterly terrified of NGOs, especially those with international funding sources. When #GreenpeaceIndia supported a community campaign against a nuclear power plant, the government promptly declared that its activities had “prejudicially affected the economic interest of the state”, froze its foreign-sourced assets and eventually suspended its NGO registration [2]. That was followed by a wave of targeting individuals, accusing them of directly receiving funds from abroad to funnel money into such NGOs who could not themselves fundraise abroad.
Was that the angle in questioning me? Well, I *have* donated money to crowdfunded online news organisations like The Wire that have been subjected to intimidation in the form of office raids by state agencies for simply reporting on corruption by the government and the ruling BJP party [3]. Does that make me a "anti-national"?
In the end, after diligently writing down my answers and collecting my contact details, the immigration official waved me through. I don’t know how this will unfold but I don’t expect that interrogation to be the end and I need to be ready.
[1] https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/rude-girl-rihannas-tweet-draws-indian-foreign-ministry-response/
[2] https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-on-the-govts-gag-on-greenpeace/article7622238.ece
[3] https://thewire.in/media/bbc-raids-documentary-bjp-modi
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