[In recent years, the Modi
government has cut off foreign funding for nonreligious organizations as well,
in moves that effectively led to the decline or demise of civil society groups
critical of its administration. Greenpeace slashed its Indian operations amid a
lengthy financial probe, while Amnesty International announced last year it would cease its Indian operations
altogether after its bank accounts were frozen.]
By Gerry Shih
Now, the Missionaries of Charity —
an organization that grew from a humble order of 12 sisters led by Mother
Teresa into one of the world’s most recognizable Christian nonprofits with
branches from Venezuela to Washington, D.C. — is facing potentially crippling
sanctions from the Indian government.
The organization’s international donations
will be effectively frozen on Saturday after India’s Home Ministry said Monday
it will not renew the group’s license to receive funds from abroad because it
found “adverse inputs.”
Although the ministry did not
provide details about its reasoning or the case, the decision comes at a moment
of rising Hindu nationalism in India — and mounting scrutiny of foreign
nonprofits and human rights organizations — under the administration of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
The funding ban threatens an operation
of thousands of nuns who have depended for decades on the enduring legacy of
Mother Teresa to raise money from around the world and use it to provide
shelter, food and education for orphans, the homeless and the sick. Mother
Teresa died in 1997 and was declared a saint in 2016.
Leaders at the Missionaries of
Charity declined to comment but issued a brief statement saying they have asked
members to stop accessing accounts with foreign funds until the matter is
“resolved.” A senior official from the Archdiocese of Calcutta, where the
nonprofit is based, condemned the government move as an attack on both the
Christian community and on “the poorest of India’s poor” who depend on its
services.
In recent years, the Modi
government has cut off foreign funding for nonreligious organizations as well,
in moves that effectively led to the decline or demise of civil society groups
critical of its administration. Greenpeace slashed its Indian operations amid a
lengthy financial probe, while Amnesty International announced last year it would cease its Indian operations
altogether after its bank accounts were frozen.
Mother Teresa’s order has not been
a vocal opponent of the government, but it has long been viewed with distrust
by India’s Hindu right. The leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an
influential Hindu organization closely aligned with the BJP, sparked a national
debate in 2015 after he said Mother Teresa served India’s poor not only out of
altruism but to convert them to Christianity.
John Dayal, a Christian activist in
New Delhi, said India’s Christian community has long faced pressure,
particularly under periods of BJP rule when Hindu vigilante groups feel more
emboldened. But this year, he said, reports of attacks on churches have ticked
up. Christian communities in several states reported cases of vandalism or
disturbances during their Christmas celebrations this week.
Earlier in December, local
officials in Gujarat — a predominantly Hindu state where Modi served as leader
for more than a decade — filed complaints against workers from the Missionaries
of Charity, accusing them of “luring” local girls to Christianity and “hurting
Hindu religious sentiments.”
Two of the group’s workers are
under investigation for forced conversion and could face imprisonment and
fines.
The government “decided to teach
Mother Teresa’s organization a lesson,” said Dayal, who predicted that her
order would financially “starve to death” under the funding restriction. “She
was always, and continues to be, vilified by the Hindu right wing,” he said.
Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian
born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910, arrived in India as a young nun in 1929.
She established the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 in Kolkata, then known as
Calcutta. She received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her charity work and was
declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2016. That year, Modi surprised some of his
right-wing supporters by saying Indians should feel proud about her
canonization.
Although modern India was founded
in 1947 as a secular nation and Hindus retain a significant majority, the
religious balance of the population and the issue of conversions represent
looming concerns for members of the RSS and affiliated Hindu nationalist
groups. They argue that Abrahamic religions such as Islam and Christianity are
influences historically brought in by foreign invaders and undermine India’s
national character.
Under BJP leadership, several
Indian states have recently introduced, or are mulling, laws to restrict
conversion through marriage. Hindu nationalists, including BJP leaders, have
warned about the rise of “love jihad,” a term they use to allege that Muslim
men are marrying and converting Hindu women as part of a systematic conspiracy.
India’s last census in 2011 showed
that roughly 2 percent of the population are Christians, compared with 80
percent Hindus and 14 percent Muslims.
A.C. Michael, a Christian community
leader in New Delhi and former member of the Indian capital’s minorities
commission, said the Missionaries of Charity should be able to continue
operations purely on funding from its domestic donors. But it was also possible
that the government would backtrack, he said.
“It seems the government didn’t
understand what would happen if they touched an organization like this,” he
said. “They’ve gotten the whole world calling them up.”
Read more:
Amnesty International to cease work in India, citing government
harassment
In the Indian city where Mother Teresa founded her order,
ambivalence about her legacy
Mother Teresa’s nuns still quietly serve the poor at D.C.
convent
