Rupam Jain, Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters), – Monday saw the Indian government “refuse” to renew a permit necessary for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity to access foreign funds. This cuts off a crucial source of funding the charity relies on for its programs to help the poor.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was a Nobel laureate and a Roman Catholic nun, died in 1997. She founded the MoC back in 1950. There are more than 3000 nuns who work in the charity’s hospices, communities kitchens, schools and leper colonies, as well as homes for children abandoned.

After receiving “adverse inputs”, the government stated that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied permission for the charity to be registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

The home ministry stated that “While reviewing the MoC’s renewal request, certain adverse inputs were noted”, but did not provide details.

A previous allegation by Mamata Bangerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister, that charity bank accounts were being frozen was also denied by the ministry.

The MoC later confirmed that their FCRA application had not been renewed. It also stated in a statement that its centers have been asked to cease operating foreign contributions accounts while the matter is being resolved.

This is a response to Modi’s hardline Hindu parties who have accused Modi’s party of running religious conversion programs under the pretense of charity, offering food, shelter, and medicine to poor Hindus. The MoC denies these claims.

In a tweet, Banerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister, said that she was stunned to learn that the Union Ministry had frozen the Indian MoC bank accounts at Christmas.

“Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines. Banerjee said that while the law should be followed, it is important to support humanitarian efforts. He was an opposition leader and vocal opponent of Modi.

Based on the request by MoC, the federal government stated that the bank had frozen the MoC’s accounts.

The Archdiocese of Calcutta’s Vicar General Dominic Gomes said that the account freeze was a “cruel Christmas present to the poorest of those poor”.

This row follows days of disruption of Christmas services by Hindu vigilantes in India’s parts, including some in states controlled by Modi ahead of the upcoming local elections.

MINORITIES AT RISK

Right-wing Hindu organizations have increased their power across countries since Modi was elected to power in 2014. They also launched attacks against minorities and claimed they were trying to stop religious conversions.

Christians, along with other critics, point out that Christians only represent 2.3% of India’s 1.37 billion inhabitants. Hindus make up the vast majority. Some Hindu groups have used the excuse of not allowing conversions to justify violence against Christians.

On Monday, the Hindu newspaper reported that Christmas celebrations were disrupted at the weekend, and the last week. This included the vandalism of a statue of Jesus Christ at Ambala, Haryana (a north state governed under Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP).

The report said that activists set fire to a Santa Claus-like model, and then chanted antiChristmas slogans at a Varanasi Church. Varanasi was Modi’s parliamentary constituency. It is also Hinduism’s holiest and most important city.

Elias Vaz is the national vice president of the All India Catholic Union and condemned the most recent incidents.

Vaz declared, “The strength and diversity of India are in its diversity. The people who did this at Christmas time are the true anti-nationals.”

The federal and state governments were not available for comment when I called them.

Many Indian states are currently considering or have already passed anti-conversion legislation that would challenge the Constitutionally protected right of freedom to belief within the country.