After several right-wing Hindu groups disrupted Christmas mass in different parts, India has moved to restrict foreign funding to a charity founded by Mother Teresa.
The Indian authorities claimed that Missionaries of Charity’s (MoC) did not meet eligibility conditions under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and “adverse inputs were noticed”.
Missionaries of Charity’s (MoC) is among one of the most prominent groups running shelters for the poor. Indian home ministry said on Monday that MoC’s application for renewing a licence that allows it to get funds from abroad was refused on Christmas.
Hardline Hindu outfits affiliated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have repeatedly accused the MoC of leading religious conversion programmes under the guise of charity by offering poor Hindus and tribal communities money, free education and shelter, Al-Jazeera reported.
The move came after several right-wing Hindu groups disrupted Christmas mass in parts of India during the weekend, including in Modi’s parliamentary constituency in the most populous Uttar Pradesh state where local elections are due early next year.
The chief minister of West Bengal state, Mamata Banerjee, sparked outrage when she tweeted that the government had frozen the bank accounts of the charity.
“Shocked to hear that (at) Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India!” wrote Banerjee, an opposition leader and vocal critic of the Modi government.
“Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised.”
The charity, headquartered in West Bengal, later said in a statement the government had not frozen its accounts but added that its FCRA renewal application had not been approved.
“Therefore … we have asked our centres not to operate any of the (foreign contribution) accounts until the matter is resolved,” it said.
Vicar General Dominic Gomes of the Archdiocese of Calcutta said the freeze of the West Bengal accounts was “a cruel Christmas gift to the poorest of the poor”.
Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who died in 1997, founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The charity has more than 3,000 nuns worldwide who run hospices, community kitchens, schools, leper colonies and homes for abandoned children.