“CSDS, The Spider Web – Undermining India’s Democracy: Detailed research paper on the foreign funding nexus”, Opindia, September 8, 2025:
“This research paper undertakes an exhaustive investigation into the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), scrutinising its history, ideological orientation, funding ecosystem, and collaborations with foreign entities. The analysis contends that CSDS operates as a node in a transnational network of NGOs, think tanks, and media organisations that are ideologically opposed to Bharat’s interests—particularly those of its majority Hindu population and the democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This executive summary distils the paper’s major revelations, critiques the intentions and motivations at play, and exposes the coordinated efforts of CSDS and its funders to influence Bharat’s political and social discourse, furthering foreign interference in Bharat’s democracy and undermining Bharat’s sovereignty at the behest of foreign powers and furthering the foreign policy agenda of other countries under the pretext of research and civil society activism.
CSDS was established in 1963 by Rajni Kothari, whose early academic work and later activism display a consistent bias against Hindu society, secularisation of the state, and a tendency to launder divisive, caste-based, and anti-majority narratives through academic jargon. The paper traces CSDS’s roots to foreign-sponsored entities such as the Asia Foundation—a CIA front—making it clear that its founding moment was tainted by external influence.
Over decades, CSDS leadership and faculty have cultivated an intellectual project that pathologises Bharat’s majority community, champions false minority victimhood, and provides ideological ammunition for adversarial foreign policy goals, particularly those aimed at undermining the sovereignty and unity of Bharat…..”
Read the full article at Opindia.com
