New Delhi [India], July 10 : Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal on Friday accused the Union Home Minister Amit Shah of misleading the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) and "weaponising" the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) against civil society organisations.
In an X post, Venugopal slammed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, stating that it prevents organisations from changing their scope of work or geography.
The Congress leader wrote, "In typical BJP fashion, HM Amit Shah has lied to the CBCI about FCRA and is wrongly deflecting blame to hide his government's culpability in weaponising the FCRA laws. In reality, the Modi Government has been hell-bent on using the FCRA to harass vocal civil society organisations and minority-run institutions and take over their properties."
"In 2020, they severely tightened FCRA rules to increase the time period for which organisations can be suspended, gave greater powers to the Centre to scrutinise them, and even limited their administrative expenses - essentially crippling them from carrying out their routine activities," he added.
He also slammed the Centre's attempt to bring an amendment to the FCRA, as the Bill provided for the cessation of the FCRA certificate of an organisation upon expiry, non-renewal or refusal of renewal by the government.
The Congress MP wrote, "In 2026, first they sought to amend the FCRA legislation to give the Centre powers to seize properties of recipient organisations and also brought in provisions of 'deemed cessation' of licenses. After widespread opposition, they withdrew these amendments only to re-introduce them through the backdoor as delegated legislation."
"In these new rules, they are also preventing organisations from changing their scope of work or geography, and bringing in ideological scrutiny to disallow those who oppose them. I challenge the Home Minister to show if any of these low-trust, vindictive measures were part of the FCRA in 2010 when the UPA brought it in. These are all measures introduced by a fascist regime that wants to destroy the civil society space through its harsh and regressive control. The Home Minister must stop misleading the CBCI, eminent personalities and the general public, and immediately withdraw these rules," the X post read.
The Home Ministry brought in the amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 introduces a dedicated schedule outlining activities eligible for registration for religious purposes. The listed activities include construction, renovation and maintenance of places of worship such as temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, monasteries, synagogues and other religious sites.
The schedule also permits preservation, printing, translation and digitisation of sacred scriptures and commentaries, support for institutions engaged in the study of religious philosophy and history, and provision of amenities for pilgrims, including drinking water, sanitation and shelter facilities at heritage religious sites. It further allows the establishment of dharamshalas, langars, annadans and community kitchens under religious initiatives.
Other permitted activities include religious education, moral instruction, satsangs, discourses, meditation retreats, promotion of devotional music, chants, theatre and liturgical arts, as well as documentation and revival of indigenous and tribal faith practices. However, the rules clearly exclude any activity involving proselytisation.