Cancellation of CASA’s FCRA; A Stab in the Back

In 1947, while India was boiling in the cauldron of communal conflict, following the partition of India and Pakistan into two separate nations along religious line, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, having run out of all resources and options, turned to the Indian Christians and asked them to assist in the work among the refugees. In response to the Prime Minister, Church Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), under the aegis of National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), rose to the occasion and readily responded neck-deep to the crisis that had taken the newly born nation by surprise.

Over the years, CASA’s approach to development includes Humanitarian Aid, Development Initiatives to address Structural Poverty, Gender Mainstreaming, Climate Change, Local Capacity Building and Peace initiatives. CASA enjoys the distinction of being a church based NGO that had caught the attention of the Prime Minister of India during its most trying moment. All these years, because of its commitment to the cause of the poorest of the poor in rural areas, CASA has earned the trust and respect of the country, particularly the rural communities in India.

Now, after having served the country for nearly eight decades, to hear that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has handed over CASA a love letter, informing that its age-old relationship is terminated as its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) stands cancelled, what signal does the antenna of your mind pick up? Needless to mention, firing a soft target like CASA, World Vision and the likes, who feed, clothe, and shelter the poor,  doesn’t make one a hero. It is neither being nationalistic nor patriotic. It simply calls to question the sincerity and integrity of a national leadership of a Prime Minister status.

In the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s request to the Christian community for mitigation of the crisis India was in, the action taken by the present government against CASA brings to mind The Tragedy of Julius Caesar in which Shakespeare depicts the dark side of his friend, Brutus. “Et tu, Brute?” A Latin sentence meaning “Even you, Brutus?” Believed to be his last words, Caesar utters these words as he is being stabbed to death, having recognised his friend Brutus among the assassins.

As India seeks for a permanent membership in the privileged class of UN Security Council, the government should know that the world is watching and observing its track record of Human Rights violation on different fronts.  The government should be all the more vigilant because all eyes are on India. As the biggest democracy in the world, the wind of change will blow in India’s favour in its pursuit for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, if it behaves well in the eyes of its own people at home and the international community. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation is judged by how it treats its weakest members.” While vying for leadership in global arena, India should first of all prove its mettle as a true leader by the example of its dealing with the minorities at home.