Rajya Sabha Proceedings During Budget Session of Parliament (File) | Photo credit: ANI
The Catholic Church’s sharp opposition to the Centre’s bid to introduce the controversial Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026 (FCRA) in Parliament on Wednesday has roiled Kerala politics in the run-up to the assembly elections and put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the defensive in the state.
The BJP, which has been keen to make inroads with the Christian community, an important electoral block in Kerala, has gone into firefighting mode. Kerala party president Rajiv Chandrasekhar told a hastily called press conference in Thiruvananthapuram that the Union government would take into account the church’s objections to the bill before introducing the proposed law in Parliament.
Mr. Chandrasekhar’s statement came shortly after Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the postponement of the bill following a bipartisan protest by Kerala MPs outside the House.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has been demanding that the Union government refer the controversial bill to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Home Affairs, which also seems to have caused the BJP to back down.
The apex church body also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to pass the controversial bill without detailed discussions in the upper and lower houses of parliament and in public. KCBC has proposed public hearings on the proposed law.
KCBC Deputy General Secretary Father Thomas Tharayil described the amendment to the original law as unconstitutional, redundant and draconian. He said the bill seeks to give the bureaucracy unlimited power to take over and manage charitable institutions, using the slightest violation of the law as a pretext.
Father Tharayil noted that the center does not renew the FCRA accounts of voluntary and charitable organizations, including those run by the Catholic Church.
Muslim organizations
Sharing the same concern, various Muslim social and educational organizations in Kerala protested the cancellation of their FCRA licences, raising the specter of closure of hospitals, schools and orphanages catering to the society. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader ET Muhammad Basheer, MP, called the bill blatantly anti-minority and baseless.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan noted that a state minister from Kerala (George Kurien) who is contesting the assembly elections “sneaky” defended a Sangh Parivar-inspired bill that seeks to strike at the grassroots of Christian and Muslim charitable institutions, including hospitals and schools that provide affordable medical care and education to common people and communities across caste. He called the BJP a political “shape-shifting apparition” whose “cake and flower diplomacy” towards church leaders reeked of duplicity.
AICC general secretary KC Venugopal termed a conspiracy in the BJP’s attempt to push the controversial bill through Parliament without discussion at a time when most members of the opposition were busy with assembly elections in their respective states.
Published – 02 April 2026 10:00 AM IST
