‘Save Aravalli’ – the recent online campaign which gained much fanfare in the social media apps now faces allegation of being foreign funded, according to a new report.
X handle OSINTवा recently revealed how former Congress President Sonia Gandhi amplified talking points of a climate activist on ‘Save Aravalli’ who was accused of foreign funding.
What’s the matter?
The report mentions about an article by website Down to Earth on 2 December 2025, titled ‘Uniform definition of Aravallis accepted by Supreme Court will be catastrophic for India’s oldest mountain range’.
On the very next day, the content of the article—although slightly repackaged—was published in form of a separate article bylined with the name of Sonia Gandhi, which was highly amplified among the Liberal ecosystem.
The Down To Earth article has been written by two authors, namely Neelam Ahluwalia and Ghazala Shahbuddin.
Neelam Ahluwalia
The co-writer of the said article, Neelam Ahluwalia’s background has been investigated by the OSINT account. It mentions, “One of the co-authors of the DoE article is Neelam Ahluwalia, an environmental activist who holds PG in Environment Assessment & Evaluation from London School of Economics. She’s the founder of People for Aravalis & Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement.”
However, even before the ‘Save Aravalli’ campaign gained momentum on social media, Neelam was mentioned in a CBI chargesheet on foreign funding.
According to a news report, CBI had registered a case against an environmental lawyer and his organisation on grounds of FCRA violation.
Quoting OSINTवा, “The CBI charged Ritwick Dutta with FCRA violations for receiving ₹22 crore from US-based Earth Justice to target India’s coal projects through strategic litigation.”
Notably, the CBI chargesheet also mentions Neelam Ahulwalia’s Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement as a client of Ritwick Dutta’s organisation. It also accused the individual of mobilising agitations and organising disruptive protests against govt policies and industrialists.
Interestingly, Ritwick Dutta’s organisation named LIFE has received funds from The Asia Foundation, Action Aid, American Jewish World Service, and International Rivers, which has also received funding from Open Society Foundations.
Open Society Foundations or OSF is owned by George Soros, who is infamous for causing unrest and planning regime change operations in foreign nations. In one instance, Soros had also called for the supposed “democratic revival” in India.
Neelam Ahluwalia and Congress
On 17 December 2025, when the Aravalli issue was firing up, Neelam Ahluwalia was invited by the Indian Youth Congress as speaker in an event. Just after days, the IYC launches political campaigns in Aravalli, namely: ‘Aravalli Satyagraha’ campaign and ‘Aravalli Bachao Cycle Yatra’.
Notably, Neelam’s climate activism goes beyond Aravalli campaign. She is also a member of National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice, an initiative by Medha Patkar’s NGO. Medha Patkar, a climate activist is known for disrupting the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam for years.
Before Aravalli, Neelam’s ‘People for Aravallis’ had even campaigned for Sonam Wangchuk, who is currently serving prison time in Tihar.
The second writer of the Down to Earth article: Ghazala Shahabuddin is a visiting professor in the Ashoka University. She is the daughter of late IFS officer turned politician Syed Shahabuddin and wife of another IFS officer Jawed Ashraf. Her husband was appointed as the Chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation last year.
Down to Earth
Apart from the writers, the platform that published the article seems to have dubious links too.
Quoting OSINTवा, “ Down To Earth is published by Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), an FCRA-registered NGO that receives ₹1.1 crore annually from Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation ($2.75M since 1991), Bloomberg Family Foundation, & Norwegian Foreign Ministry”.
Ford Foundation is an infamous NGO which has been known to function as a CIA asset. Many reports allege Ford Foundation of historically influencing politics.
The report further says that CSE’s board includes K. Shiva Kumar, a former member of National Advisory Council. Notably, NAC was known as superseding authority during UPA era, while its head Sonia Gandhi was infamously termed the “Super PM”.
Conclusion
As the Aravalli agitation noise has drowned considerably, the latest report on it being amplified by foreign funds raises serious questions, which once again will be difficult for the Congress to answer.
