New Delhi: At an emergency meeting of the managing committee of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia (FCC) held Friday in Delhi, a vote of no confidence was passed against the club’s president and veteran Indian journalist S. Venkat Narayan, vice president Waiel Awwad, senior international independent journalist from Syria, and general secretary Prakash Nanda, another senior journalist with EurAsian Times.
The no-confidence vote was passed unanimously by eight members of the organisation, who appointed Delhi-based foreign affairs analyst Simran Sodhi and The Diplomat’s correspondent Sanjay Kumar as interim president and general secretary, respectively.
The FCC is a group of more than 500 journalists and photojournalists covering India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan and Tibet. The sudden removal of the office bearers hints at a purported tussle over administrative matters as certain members, who were not present at the meeting, have called the action illegal.
ThePrint reached Kumar, the new interim general secretary, who said the organisation has decided not to engage with the media “on the club’s internal debate and discussion”.
The FCC’s managing committee comprises 11 members, including the president, vice president and general secretary. However, a core member of the FCC told ThePrint that among the eight remaining members, while four are elected members with voting rights, the others are co-opted as committee members with no voting rights.
The member said, on the condition of anonymity, that on Friday, the eight members got together and ousted the office bearers without informing them and discussed that a lot of money was being spent by the organisation on an upcoming convention. “They say that they lost confidence in the president, vice president and the secretary. They said they are removing them and taking charge.”
He added that the action taken is completely “illegal”.
“Only the president can convene a managing committee meeting. Also, these people don’t have a quorum. Four of them have no voting rights. They cannot remove these people, who were elected at an annual general meeting last year,” the member said.
The FCC member recounted the sequence of events over the past few months that led to the managing committee meeting being suddenly called this week.
He highlighted that the FCC is a member of the International Association of Press Clubs (IAPC)—a collaboration of over 40 small clubs across more than 35 countries. Every year, an IAPC convention is held in one of these countries. “Last year, it was held in London. This time, it was India’s turn again in November.” India had previously hosted the IAPC annual meet ten years ago.
However, due to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the recent escalations between Israel and Hezbollah, and the upcoming presidential elections in the US, the member said, the club had decided to conduct the meeting early next month.
“This was discussed in the annual general meeting (AGM) of the FCC on 20 July this year. When the IAPC members come, normally they pay for the hotel accommodation, membership fee and so on.”
After two days of meetings in Delhi, it was decided that the members would be taken to Agra for a visit to the Taj Mahal, besides some other excursions, which would amount to an expenditure of “maximum of Rs 3 lakh”. This, the member said, was announced on 20 July during the AGM, which was recorded.
In a video recording of the meeting accessed by ThePrint, Prakash Nanda, the now-ousted FCC secretary can be heard saying, “As far as the major expenditure that we plan to do, which (we) may incur, the only major thing that comes to my mind… this year, it is our turn to host it (IAPC). So, the people will be coming from abroad. Broadly, we need around Rs 3 lakh… We need your approval for that… We may try to reduce it, but be prepared for that. Every club will be giving $300. But I think this is a planned major expenditure that will happen after 3-4 months.”
In another short clip, Nanda can be seen telling the audience members that the audit is approved.
However, soon after the decision was taken, the member told ThePrint, some members objected, saying that FCC was spending a lot of money, and then called for an emergency meeting that was eventually held on the evening of 4 October.
“Some people want to grab the limelight or think that if the foreigners come, it is a big deal. They are fighting over who will preside over events!” he said.
The office bearers have now decided to go to court to seek an injunction and take further action. “This will not have an impact on the FCC. I don’t wish to disclose what they are going to do. They will do what is required to restore the normal functioning of the club,” the member said.