After attacks on various Christmas celebrations in parts of the country, a row erupted after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Narendra Modi government of freezing all the bank accounts of a charity set up by Mother Teresa.
The events unfolded after reports said that the bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity were frozen on Christmas and Mamata tweeted out to say that she was shocked that 22,000 patients & employees of the Charity have been left without food & medicines.
The reports triggered an outcry with Vicar General, Archdiocese of Calcutta, Fr. Dominic Gomes saying in a statement that in freezing the bank accounts, government agencies have given a cruel Christmas gift to the poorest of the poor.
The government responded back with the Ministry of Home Affairs saying that the the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act license of the charity to receive foreign donations expired on October 31st and was extended till December 31. The Home Ministry said that the charity itself asked SBI for its account to be frozen and its FCRA license was not renewed due to 'adverse reports'.
The Kolkata-based charity established in 1950 too issued a statement in which it said that its FCRA license has neither been cancelled nor has it expired. It said there has been no freeze order on its bank accounts by the Home Ministry. It said that the charity has been informed that its FCRA application has not been approved and therefore it has asked all its Centres to not operate its Foreign Contribution accounts.
The flashpoint comes after earlier this month a report in Al Jazeera claimed that police in Gujarat are probing whether the Missionaries of Charity forced girls in its shelter home in Vadodra to wear a cross and read the Bible.
Right-wing Hindu groups disrupted various Christmas gathering in north India this year with activists on Christmas eve also torching effigies of Santa Claus in Agra, the city of Taj Mahal.