FCRA Bill passed: BJP cites Staines killing, forced conversions to defend amendments

The Lok Sabha on September 21 passed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2020 by voice vote. Now, it will be mandatory for all office bearers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that seek foreign contributions to get an Aadhaar card.

During the debate in Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised issues such as forced conversions and the role of Christian missionaries. “We know what happened in the northeast, how things changed there over the past 50 years and a particular religion became prominent,” said BJP leader SP Singh.

Justifying amendments to the FCRA, Singh had cited government and intelligence reports that confirm how insurgency has increased in the northeast through money received under the FCRA.

We know what happened in northeast, how things changed there in last 50 yrs & a particular religion rose. There's govt & intelligence report that how insurgency increased there with money under FCRA: SP Singh, BJP while discussing Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill pic.twitter.com/pyNlghib6R

— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2020

Evangelist mission was the reason people had turned against Graham Staines, the MP stated.

Supriya Sule, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP, had responded saying: “As a retired policeman from Maharashtra, what example did he (BJP MP Satya Pal Singh) give? That one NGO did not do good work. If he was the police commissioner what action did he take?”

She had further said: “There may be one NGO doing bad work but there are thousands of NGOs doing very good work. He has defended a case in Odisha about a family that was burnt alive. Whatever they did, no law anywhere in the world allows you to burn people and their children.”

The NCP MP had also questioned if it was then justified to burn alive two children because of the actions of their parents.

Staines and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (6) were burnt to death on January 22, 1999, while they were asleep in their station wagon in front of a church at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar, about 400 km away from Bhubaneshwar.