FCRA Accounts of Mother Teresa’s Missionary of Charity Frozen due to “Adverse Inputs”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: The union home ministry on Monday admitted that it had rejected the renewal application of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of Missionaries of Charity set up by Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa based on “adverse inputs.”

After the reports of the centre having frozen all bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity created a furor, the centre first issued a denial that it had taken any such measure but later admitted that the renewal application has not been approved and also claimed that the Missionary itself has requested the State Bank of India to freeze its accounts.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement on Monday said

the application for the renewal was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under the FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules 2011. State Bank of India informed the Union home ministry that Missionaries of Charity itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts, the home ministry release claimed.

The ministry issued the statement after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that all bank accounts of MoC were frozen by the Centre. Banerjee said all 22,000 patients and employees have been left without food and medicines, adding that “humanitarian efforts must not be compromised.”

This was followed by a reaction from the Congress. Party leader Shashi Tharoor who tweeted, “This is indeed shocking. When Mother Teresa wins a Nobel Prize, India rejoices. When her organisation serves the poor & destitute, the govt cuts off their funding. Disgraceful.”

The home ministry also claimed that no request or revision application has been received from MoC for review of this refusal of renewal. The registration of Missionaries of Charity, registered under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001, was valid up to October 31, 2021. The ministry said the validity was subsequently extended up to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal. While considering the MoC’s renewal application, some “adverse inputs” were noticed.

“In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved… No request/revision application has been received from the Missionaries of Charity (MoC) for review of this refusal of renewal,” it said.

The MHA did not provide details of the “adverse inputs”. It, however, refused allegations that it has frozen the NGO’s accounts. ‘The MHA did not freeze any accounts of the MoC. The State Bank of India (SBI) has informed that the MoC itself sent a request to the SBI to freeze its accounts,” the ministry said.

Notably, the MoC has time and again faced allegations of conversion from outfits associated with the Sangh Parivar and several BJP MPs have also made such allegations. Earlier this month, an FIR was registered against the MoC in Gujarat citing these allegations. The MoC was booked under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, for allegedly “hurting Hindu religious sentiments” and “luring towards Christianity young girls” in a shelter home it runs in Vadodara city. The organisation had rejected the charge.

The FIR lodged at Makarpura police station on Sunday was based on a complaint from District Social Defence Officer Mayank Trivedi who, along with the Chairman of the Child Welfare Committee of the district, visited the Home for Girls run by the MoC in Makarpura on December 9. The FIR states that during his visit, Trivedi found that girls at the home were being “forced” to read Christian religious texts and participate in prayers of Christian faith, with the intention of “steering them into Christianity.” The issue was even raised in the Winter Session of Parliament, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accusing the MoC of indulging in religious conversions and illegally sending children for adoption abroad.

The Missionaries of Charity later issued a statement pointing out that it had asked all its centres not to operate bank accounts because the centre did not approve its renewal application. “We have been informed that our FCRA renewal application has not been approved. Therefore, as a measure to ensure there is no lapse, we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC (foreign contribution) accounts until matter is resolved,” a statement from Sister M. Prema, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, said.

The statement clarified that “FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity has neither been suspended nor cancelled. Further there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs [MHA] on any of our bank accounts.” Earlier in the day, reports that bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity have been frozen by the Centre had triggered concerns among social and political circles. Besides Mamata Banerjee, Father Dominic Gomes, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Calcutta, said in a statement, “In freezing the bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity Sisters and Brothers congregations, Government agencies have given a cruel Christmas gift to the poorest of the poor.” Other leaders of West Bengal, including Communist Party of India ( Marxist) State secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and Congress Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya too raised the issue and criticised the Centre.

Mother Teresa set up the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. She died on September 5, 1997 and declared a saint by Pope Francis in September 2016.