The FCRA license of Harvest India, an NGO run by bishop Suresh Kumar Kathera has been suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Bishop Kathera had violated many rules of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 and advocacy organisation Legal Rights Protection Forum(LRPF) had filed a complaint with the MHA seeking to cancel Harvest India’s FCRA registration.

LRPF had written a letter to the ministry explaining the anti-Bharat activities of Harvest India and bishop Suresh Kathera. The bishop had made false and defamatory remarks about Bharat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While speaking at the Mission Conference 2018 held at Biola University, the USA in 2018 he said, “Pastors are beaten, churches are burning. Our Prime Minister, he is a bad guy. He doesn’t want any Christians in India. He wants to make India as only Hindu country. So many pastors killed in last 5 years.”

In another instance he had said that he intended to carry out a ‘crusade in enemy stronghold Koduru, Andhra Pradesh’. Apart from these, Harvest India hasn’t filed FCRA returns since 2012. Despite claiming to be a SC Hindu on certificate, Kathera and his family have been collecting funds from Christians in foreign countries for spreading the gospel, church planting and other missionary work. 

LRPF had pointed out these discrepancies in its letter to the MHA and sought to cancel Harvest India’s FCRA license. Bishop Kathera and his wife Henry Christina are YSRCP members and Christina was recently elected as the Zilla Parishad Chairman. She won from a seat reserved for SCs and a complaint has been filed with the Election Commission challenging her candidature. Even though bishop Kathera runs 10 bible colleges and a church, King’s Temple, he was declared as a SC Hindu by the district collector of Guntur.

Now that their FCRA license has been suspended, more venom on Hindus and the PM could be expected. Earlier this month the MHA had suspended the licenses of 6 other evangelist and Islamic NGOs.