Threat to Christian mission work in India

The Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill has been labelled dangerous and alarming by Christians in India.

The FCRA license is the regulated authority by which an Indian-based NGO can receive foreign funding. The proposed amendment, if passed, would now allow the government to seize all the assets of an organisation whose license has been blocked – or which has lapsed.

Dr Joseph D’Souza, head of the All India Christian Council, said, ‘This is a dangerous and deeply alarming crisis, with immediate and potentially irreversible consequences.’

In an official statement, Release International’s partner in India said the proposed amendments were ‘merely a ploy for the government to take over properties and assets run by Christian institutions.’

The Indian government has long sought to exert control over the activities of charities and Christian mission organisations by restricting their access to foreign funding. Regulations that ostensibly exist to ensure appropriate transparency and accountability have been used to target organisations with which it disagrees. Since the BJP, the Hindu nationalist party, gained political control in 2014, more than 20,000 FCRA licenses have lapsed or been cancelled, effectively blocking those organisations from receiving foreign funding.

The proposed amendment, which would allow seizure of all assets, was tabled last month. It has now been deferred to the June-August session of parliament – possibly as a result of an initial outcry.

But Release International’s partner warns that the delay is not a resolution and that sustained opposition to the Bill – nationally and internationally – remains crucial.

‘This legislation is a deliberate effort to enable the state to take over ecclesiastical property, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities built over decades of global philanthropy, marked by sacrifice,’ Release’s partner stated.

Release International’s CEO Paul Robinson said, ‘Over the past two decades Christians in parts of India have suffered violent attacks by Hindu extremist groups with pastors and other Christian workers being falsely accused of bribing or coercing people to become Christians. In more recent years so-called anti-conversion laws in a number of Indian states have encouraged opponents of the gospel to use the law to stifle Christian witness. This latest threat seems part of that trend.’

Paul called on Christians in the UK to pray that the legislative threat is overturned and that God will give the church in India strength and resilience at this time.

This article was originally published on https://releaseinternational.org/christianmissionindia/