Missionaries of Charity says accounts were not frozen

Kolkata: Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock and dismay over the alleged freezing of the accounts of Missionaries of Charity, the organisation came out with a clarification, stating that its accounts were neither frozen, nor suspended.

"We appreciate the concern of our well-wishers and extend our heartiest greetings for Christmas and the New Year. We would like to clarify that the FCRA registration of the Missionaries of Charity has neither been suspended, nor cancelled. Further, there is no freeze ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on any of our bank accounts. We have been informed that our FCRA renewal application has not been approved," the organisation said in a statement.

"Therefore, as a measure to ensure there is no lapse, we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC accounts until the matter is resolved," the statement added.

The clarification came after the Ministry of Home Affairs said earlier in the day that the Missionaries of Charity's application for renewal of FCRA registration was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions, as some adverse inputs were received.

However, the statement signed by Sister M Prema, Superior General of the missionary body set up by Mother Teresa, did not clarify whether it had asked the State Bank of India to freeze its accounts, as claimed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The ministry said the SBI had informed that the organisation itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts.

The MHA statement came hours after Mamata Banerjee claimed that the Centre had frozen all bank accounts of the organisation founded by Mother Teresa.

The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic religious congregation which was established in 1950 by Mother Teresa.

'The doors are open to all'

"The doors of the Mother House are open to all," said a nun nonchalantly as she went about doing her work. Money, apparently, doesn't matter in a place where service is not a dogma but a way of life.

At Mother House, the abode of Saint Teresa, it was work as usual on Tuesday as the nuns went about attending to the destitute, the wayward alcoholic, and the leper, with crumbling maggot-filled limbs.

They strutted about, giving painkillers to those dying at its hospice, counselling alcoholics about how life could change for the better, and telling lepers their disfigured limbs were still lovable.

"The nuns should be allowed to do their work," says Bhola Hossain Mollah from Boral village in South 24 Parganas district.

The Mother House, which Teresa set up in 1953 on Acharya Jagdish Chandra Road, is now a pilgrimage for all humanity "The Saint of the Gutters" caressed.

The unassuming Mother House is a working mission where the poor, the ailing and the dying are looked after by a band of selfless followers of Teresa. It also has a small museum and Mother Teresa's tomb, exemplifying motherhood that cares for the most hapless of its children.

"I was rescued by the Mothers (nuns) of this home while I lay on the footpath with serious foot injury. They treated me for free...I get food from them thrice a day as I recuperate," said Mollah.

The 40-year-old destitute man said, "I don't know about their source of funds and I don't want to. All I wish is they should be allowed to do their work."

Life never changes its course at Mother House. The hospice disgorges the dead, the lepers, untouched by disdainful gaze, smile their best smiles, and the nuns scurry about doing their chores.

"The doors of the Mother House are open to all and all our daily activities are continuing. They will with the support of you all," an elderly Sister told a PTI journalist, blessing him but refusing to say more.

The lane adjacent to the white building with blue streaks, in the colours of the sari which most Nuns wear, was quiet and forlorn with only a handful of visitors.

Michael, the leader of a 10-member group of visitors from Mumbai that included children, was unaware about the controversy over the central government refusing to renew the license granted to the Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

"We prayed inside, we were blessed by the nuns present, we offered tribute at the tomb. Things were the same as three years back when I had visited the place for the first time. It is serene, quiet and divine," he said.

"We believe the Missionaries of Charity cannot do anything wrong. They are serving the poor, the people. They should be allowed to do their work. If there are any problems with foreign funding, that should be addressed for the benefit of poor," said a woman member of the team.

As the wheel of life moves on inexorably, churning out tragedies for humankind in the wake, the house on Acharya Jagdish Chandra Road stands like a beacon of hope. The "Saint of the Gutters" lives on through her children at 'Mother House', where milk of human kindness flows boundless even when money may not, said a nun before vanishing into one of the rooms where the sick and the dying get a reason to smile.

(With PTI and IANS inputs)