India: Christian NGOs under growing pressure

On 2 April 2024 AsiaNews reported that Caritas India, the Roman Catholic Church’s official charitable organization in India, is in the crosshairs of Hindu nationalists in their anti-conversion campaign. An NGO linked to the radical Hindu RSS presented an official complaint to the Ministry of the Interior requesting that Caritas India’s registration be revoked. The NGO also complained about the Rural Development Trust based in Andhra Pradesh, accusing it of using "the local government's free housing project for poor and marginalized communities for its Christian conversions".

World Watch Research analyst Rolf Zeegers comments: “Following these types of complaints, a number of Christian-run NGOs have already had their licenses cancelled or suspended, among them: Harvest India, World Vision India and Jesus Redeems Ministries, based in Tamil Nadu. The best-known organization to suffer from this RSS-linked activity was the Mother Theresa Missionaries of Charity in December 2021. Although the license was restored in January 2022 (UCAN News, 8 January 2022), many other organizations have never got their license back.”

Rolf Zeegers continues: “The Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) has regularly been used to block (Christian) NGO work in India (Christianity Today, 2 April 2024). Without the govern-
ment’s authorization no foreign donations can be legally accepted by NGOs, thus forcing them to stop their activities in India. Most Christian NGOs operate projects at the social level, particularly bringing support to those in poverty. These are the people in India suffering most from the FCRA restrictions caused by the radical Hindu anti-conversion campaign.”