New Delhi: The Home Ministry said on Monday that the government did not freeze bank accounts operated by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity> It said that the Kolkata-based organisation had itself written to the State Bank of India asking for its accounts to be suspended.

Authorities of Missionaries of Charity were not ready to say anything on the issue

The Ministry of Home affairs said that on December 25 it refused to renew the organisation’s FCRA, or Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, licence after being made aware of “adverse inputs”.

“In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of Missionaries of Charity was not approved. The FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity was valid up to December 31, 2021,” a statement from the ministry said.

“MHA did not freeze any accounts of Missionaries of Charity. State Bank of India has informed that Missionaries of Charity itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts,” the statement clarified.

However, authorities of Missionaries of Charity were not ready to say anything on the issue.

Earlier on Monday West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock at reports that the government had frozen Missionaries of Charity’s bank accounts, creating confusion.

“Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity! 22,000 patients and employees have been left without food and medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised,” she tweeted.

Father Dominic Gomes, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, also hit out at what he said was a “dastardly attack on the Christian community”.

“In freezing the bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity… government agencies have given a cruel Christmas gift to the poorest of the poor… Missionaries of Charity Sisters and Brothers are often the only friends of lepers and social outcasts no one will even venture near… this latest attack on the Christian community and their social outreach is even more a dastardly attack on the poorest of India’s poor. We condemn the government action,” the Father’s statement said.