AICU urges Indian govt to completely withdraw FCRA Bill
New Delhi: The All India Catholic Union (AICU) has urged the Indian government to completely withdraw the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, raising strong objections to provisions that allow authorities to seize and manage the assets of registered organisations.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the AICU President, Er Elias Vaz, in a statement said, “With its memory of government intransigence and political perfidy, the Christian community cannot be fully satisfied until the Indian Government withdraws the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, in its entirety from both Houses of Parliament.”
He called upon the Indian government to “give explicit, unequivocal, and written assurances that there shall be no future attempts—whether through legislation, administrative action, or any other means—to usurp the assets and institutions of the church or to circumscribe, in any form, the religious freedom guaranteed under the Constitution of India.”
The AICU President said, “These assets and institutions have been built over decades and centuries by the community with its own money and assistance from fellow Christians across the globe, without government funds and are meant for, and are being utilised in essential humanitarian, educational, healthcare, and spiritual endeavours. Government attempts to contain and erode them will hurt the Indian people.”
According to the Christian body, mere withholding or deferral of the said Bill, seemingly calibrated to the electoral calendar in Kerala and other states, offers neither relief nor satisfaction to the community.
