Missionaries of Charity: Centre tight-lipped on 'adverse inputs'

Sources indicate Gujarat police are probing allegations of religious conversion against the organisation and this can be the reason behind refusal to renew FCRA licence

The Missionaries of Charity has categorically denied the allegation that it forced anyone into following Christian practices.: File photo

TT Bureau   |  New Delhi  | 29.12.21 : The Union home ministry on Tuesday remained tightlipped about the “adverse inputs” against the Missionaries of Charity that prompted it to refuse to renew the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act licence of the Calcutta-headquartered organisation that Mother Teresa founded.

Sources in the ministry, however, indicated that Gujarat police were probing allegations of religious conversion against the organisation and this could be the reason behind the refusal to renew the FCRA licence.

“Early this month, Gujarat police had received a complaint against the organisation for allegedly luring young girls into Christianity by hurting Hindu religious sentiments,” a ministry official said, requesting anonymity.

According to the complaint, he said, the girls at a shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity in Vadodara were being forced to wear the Cross and read Christian religious texts, and the activities were conducted allegedly with the intention of steering them towards Christianity.

The complaint to the police is said to have been based on a report by child welfare authorities in Gujarat.

The Missionaries of Charity, the official said, has categorically denied the allegation that it forced anyone into following Christian practices.

Following an outrage on Monday, the home ministry had issued a statement denying it had frozen the accounts. The statement said the Missionaries of Charity’s application for renewal of FCRA licence was refused on December 25, 2021, for not meeting the eligibility conditions.

“…While considering the MoC’s renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed,” it said.

The Missionaries of Charity has been targeted in the past by members of the RSS and other Right-wing groups who had made similar allegations against the organisation.

“These allegations are not new. Since Narendra Modi took over in 2014, religious minorities have faced increased violence in the country,” said a former security official.

A civil rights activist said the Modi government had in the past seven years tightened its grip on sources of foreign funding and cancelled the FCRA licences of hundreds of NGOs receiving foreign donations on charges of violating various provisions of the law.

“The crackdown against the non-profit organisations continues as the government has been suppressing those whose works are not considered supportive of the current dispensation,” he said.

When the Missionaries of Charity receives foreign funds, they are distributed under the several heads such as welfare of abandoned children, children with disabilities, home for the dying to give them a “dignified farewell”, and home for lepers, sources close to the organisation said.

“The sisters will use these funds earmarked for various ‘utilities’ as of now and till the impasse is resolved,” a source said.

The sources said that if the situation was not resolved soon, the Charity might have to depend on people to come forward or on local contributions.