Missionaries of Charity debunks Mamata tweet, says 'none of its bank accounts was frozen by MHA'

MoC's Superior General, Sister Mary Prema, in a brief statement, said, "We would like to clarify that the FCRA registration of the Missionaries of Charity has been neither suspended nor cancelled.

"Further there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts," she added.

"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 accounts until the matter is resolved," the MoC statement read.

Reacting to the issue, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Calcutta, Fr. Dominic Gomes, said in a statement: "Since the MC Generalate has given a definitive release this evening stating that the FCRA accounts of the congregation have not been frozen — they themselves have suspended use — as the MHA has merely rejected their application of the FCRA licence, which expires shortly, please refrain from further sharing any earlier posts or statement regarding freezing of the accounts. This is a non issue as of now."

Earlier, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Centre over the allegation of freezing MoC's bank accounts.

"Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India!" Mamata Banerjee wrote on Twitter.

"Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food and medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised," Banerjee tweeted.

Leaders of other non-BJP political parties also slammed the Centre over the issue.

Interestingly in a somewhat identical wording, West Bengal CPI-M secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra also echoed in his tweet what the West Bengal CM posted.

Later in the evening, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) claimed it did not freeze any account of the MoC, and said that the Missionaries of Charity itself had requested the State Bank of India (SBI) to freeze its accounts.

"MHA did not freeze any account of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts," the MHA said in a brief statement.

"The renewal application under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on 25 December 2021 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011," according to the statement.

The MHA said no request or revision application has been received from the Missionaries of Charity for review of the refusal of renewal.

"Missionaries of Charity was registered under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001 and its registration was valid up to 31 October 2021, and the validity was subsequently extended up to 31 December 2021 along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal," the statement read.

"While considering the MoC's renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed, and in consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved," the MHA said in the statement.

"The FCRA registration of MoC was valid up to 31 December 2021," it added.