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Missionaries of Charity row: Congress says BJP creating fake bogies of communalism
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "Mother Teresa & her Missionaries of Charity are the latest victims of Modi Govt’s vicious, vengeful & hate driven agenda against minorities.
The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Narendra Modi-led Central government over the alleged non-renewal of registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Mother Teresa founded-Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "Mother Teresa & her Missionaries of Charity are the latest victims of Modi Govt’s vicious, vengeful & hate driven agenda against minorities.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary further accused the BJP of creating “fake bogies of communalism”. “Haridwar to Calcutta - BJP and its hate mongers are creating fake bogies of communalism. This is an affront to India’s Constitutionalism,” he wrote on Twitter.
Also read | Mamata's intention mala fide: BJP on Missionaries of Charity's bank account freeze claim
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said as the year 2021 ends, it was clear that the Modi government “has found another target - Christians - to advance its majoritarian agenda”.
Chidambaram asked the Union home ministry to “put to use its Sherlock Holmes-like skills to quell communal violence and terrorist activity, not to suppress Christian charity and humanitarian work”.
“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 caring for the ‘poor and wretched’ of India,” he said.
The issue came to light on Monday after West Bengal chief minister Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed her shock, stating that bank accounts of Kolkata-headquartered organisation were frozen by the Centre.
Also read | Mother Teresa's charity denies bank account freeze after Mamata blames Centre
Following which, the Union ministry clarified that no request or revision application was received for review of the refusal of renewal. It further said bank accounts of the charity organisation were frozen by the State Bank of India as requested by the group.
The Missionaries of Charity later issued a statement saying there has been no freeze order from the Union home ministry nor the charity's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act has been suspended or cancelled.
(With agency inputs)
