The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has refuted reports that it has frozen the accounts of Mother Teresa’s missionary, with the charity also dismissing the claims. However, the government disclosed that it has refused a request by the charity to renew the organisation’s foreign-funding license.
According to a press release, the Indian Home Ministry rejected the renewal request under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on Christmas due to “adverse inputs.” However, no further details were disclosed. Approvals under the FCRA are necessary for any Non-Governmental Organisation to secure foreign funding or donations. The organisation’s license was valid until October 31, 2021, but was extended until December 31, 2021. Subsequently, the missionary released a statement confirming that the application for foreign funding had been denied. It also clarified that it “would not operate any foreign funding accounts” till the matter is resolved.
In the financial year of 2020-21, the organisation received over $10 million from 347 individuals and 58 institutional donors, with most of the funding coming from the United States and the United Kingdom.
West Bengal Chief Minister and opposition leader Mamata Banerjee has criticised the government for blocking the charity’s main source of income. Her concerns were also echoed by several religious and political leaders, as well as the Archdiocese of Calcutta.
Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India!
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 27, 2021
Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines.
While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised.
However, both the Indian Home Ministry and the charity have denied the claim. A statement issued by the charity read: “FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity has neither been suspended nor cancelled. Further, there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts.” Meanwhile, the Indian Home Ministry said that the charity itself had requested the State Bank of India to freeze its accounts.
Ministry of Home Affairs did not freeze bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity (MoC)
— PIB India (@PIB_India) December 27, 2021
State Bank of India informed that MoC itself sent a request to @TheOfficialSBI to freeze its accounts
Read: https://t.co/mazWxu9JuZ
Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata in 1950. She was a Roman Catholic nun who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work with children, schools, clinics, and hospices. There are 3,000 such centres across the world.
However, her aid organisation has previously been criticised for being “so dangerously lacking it borders on negligent.” A number of previous reports have suggested that despite receving millions of dollars in funding: patients in her medical centres are treated in “squalid” conditions; workers reuse needles; patients are purposely given insufficient doses of medicines to reduce ‘wastage’; nurses administer expired medicines; volunteers with little or no training operate on patients with highly contagious and life-threatening illnesses; and food in the soup kitchens is rarely replenished. Although it is unclear whether these concerns have now been addressed, there remains a degree of scepticism regarding the organisation.
Several Hindu hardliner groups have also alleged that the organisation indulges in forced conversion, an allegation rejected by the charity. The Missionaries of Charity have been accused of luring poor Hindus and tribal communities to Christianity by providing free education and shelter. Just this month, Mother Teresa’s charity found itself in the middle of a scandal following complaints that girls housed in its centres were forced to read the Bible. Against this backdrop, several states have already passed an anti-conversion law that prohibits religious conversions for marriages.
The controversy surrounding the Mother Teresa charity comes against the backdrop of a surge in attacks against minorities in India. In fact, several members of right-wing groups attacked and disrupted at least seven Christmas celebrations across the country, and were seen protesting outside and even vandalising churches.