In
March this year, Royce and more than 100 members of the US Congress had written
to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, asking him to allow US-based charity Compassion
International to continue its work in India.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi addressing Indian diaspora in Washington.
Three months after Christian charity
organisation Compassion International was forced to shut its operations in
India following a government directive, the Indian side may be asked some tough
questions from US interlocutors on the crackdown on NGOs during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stay
here.
The Prime Minister, who arrived in Washington DC Saturday night,
will meet US administration officials Sunday onward and US President Donald
Trump Monday.
Influential US Congressman and chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs committee, Ed Royce, told The Indian Express, “The US-India partnership
is critically important, and that’s why I hope Prime Minister Modi will take
time to listen to those who are concerned about crackdowns on non-governmental
organisations, including the shuttering of Compassion International that was
providing critical tutoring, nutrition and medical services to more than
145,000 Indian children.”
Royce has been at the forefront of those critical of the Indian
government’s actions against NGOs, especially Compassion International.
Since the current US administration has a strong base in the
conservative constituency in the US, Modi’s visit may give an opportunity for
the administration to raise this issue. While it is highly unlikely that Trump
may raise the issue, other key administration officials may raise this with the
Prime Minister and his official delegation, US officials indicated.
David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, a global
advocate for persecuted Christians, wrote in The Hill, a DC-based news outlet
on American politics, on Saturday: “As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
scheduled to meet with President Trump this week, a question is looming: what
will President Trump say about the rise in brutal persecution of Christians,
Muslims and other religious minorities in India? Can we expect the President to
bring this issue to light, or let it linger in the shadows? Having recently
returned from India, I witnessed firsthand accounts of pastors imprisoned and
churches attacked by mobs of Hindu radicals, not to mention the abysmal saga of
Compassion International, wherein the Indian government’s crackdown-on this and
other organizations-has led to tens of thousands of children throughout India
losing access to medical care, meals and tuition.”
There are no meetings scheduled between US Congressman Royce and
Modi so far, and officials maintained that this will be the first Modi-Trump
meeting and the two leaders will focus on the “big picture”.
In March this year, Royce and more than 100 members of the US
Congress had written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh,
asking him to allow US-based charity Compassion International to continue its
work in India.
Compassion International was forced to terminate its service to
India after nearly 50 years of work there, after the Ministry of Home Affairs
issued an inter-bank circular preventing all commercial banks in India from processing
CI’s wire transfers without prior Ministry approval. As a result, Compassion
was unable to process the funds it needed to continue, and was forced to close
its sponsorship programmes on March 15 this year.
In the letter written in March, US Congressmen led by Royce had
said that as long-time supporters of the US-India partnership, “we have worked
diligently to deepen ties between our two countries. As the largest and oldest
democracies in the world, India and the United States share bonds rooted in
political pluralism and respect for the rule of law. It is with this in mind
that we write to express our deep concern over the lack of transparency and
consistency in your government’s enforcement of the Foreign Contributions
Regulations Act.”
Compassion International has worked in India since 1968, and its
programmes support over 145,000 Indian children, providing critical tutoring,
health and nutrition, and medical services. Being a faith-based child
sponsorship NGO based in Colorado, it has served nearly two million children
living in extreme poverty across 26 countries worldwide.
In February 2016, the Indian government had issued an order
against Compassion, preventing funds from reaching its local church partners in
India. “These restrictions appear to be religiously motivated. Compassion is an
unapologetically Christian organization that seeks to serve children in poverty
as a response to its faith. The decision is disappointing because Compassion
accepts and serves children and families in India of all faith backgrounds and
rigorously follows Indian law,” an official of Compassion International said.
In March, Santiago Jimmy Mellado, CEO of Compassion
International, wrote to its sponsors, “As we navigate this difficult moment in
Compassion’s history, I am flooded with emotions. I am heartbroken for sure,
over the 147,000 babies, children, young adults and mothers who will no longer
receive the benefits of Compassion’s program. I am distraught over the
partnerships with 589 churches that will come to an end. I am concerned for our
127 staff members who have committed their careers to helping the poorest of
the poor in their own communities.”
Indian government officials, however, maintained that any NGO,
foreign or Indian, has to operate in India, or for that matter anywhere else in
the world, within the laws of the country. Officials have also said that the
government had been fully transparent in this regard, including in
conversations with Compassion International’s officials concerned.
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