'Modi govt targeting Christians': Congress over Mother Teresa's charity row

The Congress on Tuesday slammed the Centre for refusing to renew FCRA registration of Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity over "some adverse inputs".

"Nothing can be more shocking than denying future foreign contributions to the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, West Bengal. This is the greatest insult to the memory of Mother Teresa who devoted her life to care for the 'poor and wretched' of India," Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted.

The MHA, he said, claims to have found "some adverse inputs". It should put to use its "Sherlock Holmes-like" skills to quell communal violence and terrorist activity, not to suppress Christian charity and humanitarian work. As the year 2021 ends, it is clear that the Modi government has found another target "Christians" to advance its majoritarian agenda, he added.

Dubbing the denial "shocking", party leader Anand Sharma said: "Shocked at the Government's action of freezing the accounts of Missionaries of Charity. Condemning the cruel, insensitive and inhuman decision which will hurt the ailing and suffering poor the most. Demand PM's intervention and immediate reversal."

The Centre, on Monday, clarified that it has not frozen the bank account of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and that as per the State Bank of India, the MoC has requested for the same.

Also read: Opposition alleges Centre froze bank accounts of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity; govt denies

The Ministry also said that the renewal application under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.

It also said that no request or revision application has been received from MoC for review of this refusal of renewal.

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