Arise Bharat

Author – Col. Ajay Kumar (retd)

“We need the US as a strategic partner. In a world where Chinese expansionism is a constant threat in the Indo-Pacific, coordination through the Quad is necessary. But a strategic partnership is not a master-servant relationship. We dont interfere in their domestic laws, and they have no business telling us how to regulate our non-profit sector. “

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit to Bharat was different in the sense that it didn’t start from New Delhi but from Kolkata, where he landed on May 23, 2026. Ostensibly, he was there to pay his respects at Mother Teresa’s tomb at the Missionaries of Charity. However, this was neither a standard public relations stuff, nor a pilgrimage . It was a calculated, highly symbolic attempt to poke at the Indian governments sovereign right to control its own borders and financial books.

The timing was absolutely critical. Rubio’s stopover happened just as New Delhi was preparing to introduce some of the toughest amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in the upcoming Monsoon Session, ( from July 21 to August 12, 2026). Just two days before he landed, US Representative Chris Smith wrote a highly strategic op-ed in the Washington Examiner, in which he openly urged Rubio to use his trip to pressure Prime Minister Modi into pulling back those proposed FCRA updates.

What led to the the sudden panic in Washington? As per the draft amendment, if an NGOs’ license lapses, denied or gets cancelled, a Government designated authority can step in and take over their assets.

For any foreign-funded group running massive networks of schools, clinics, and churches, this is an existential threat. Smith even used the Missionaries of Charity’s temporary 2021 licensing scare to make his point. Back then, their registration was frozen over adverse inputs on Christmas Day before being quickly restored in January 2022 after a global outcry. Under these new 2026 rules, Smith warned, the government could have permanently seized their multi-million-dollar empire.

Our domestic politicians, out of habit, tried to give it a political colour. The Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose called the Modi government anti-Christian for tightening the screws while parading Mother Teresas legacy for foreign dignitaries. The BJPs Amit Malviya hit back, saying the order’s license is perfectly active until December 31, 2026. The real story lies in what this foreign funding does to Indias internal security.

For any citizen concerned about Bharat’s security , its incredibly frustrating to watch Western powers lecture us on religious freedom while using international charities to run parallel funding pipelines. Our intelligence agencies arent paranoid when they flag these flows. There is a decades of data to back it up.

Kudankulam nuclear power plant protests in Tamil Nadu is one such example. Millions of rupees were pumped in from foreign academic and church channels that also included nearly forty-thousand dollars from Ohio University ,straight into the protest convenors pocket. The aim of funding the protest was to stall a vital national energy project. The money didn’t go to charity. It went to paralyze our industrial growth. Once the government plugged those loopholes with the 2016 and 2020 FCRA updates, Washington suddenly started crying about a shrinking civil space. It’s a classic playbook. When you block their leverage, they change the narrative to victimhood.

Then in Northeast region, if you think the prolonged unrest in Manipur is just tribal rivalry, you’re missing the bigger picture. The region is sitting on massive, untapped oil and gas reserves. Keeping the Northeast in a state of chronic, ethnically charged instability ensures that major energy exploration projects remain frozen.

Who benefits from that? The US, which has been aggressively pushing its own liquefied natural gas exports to us. Rubio even offered to supply us with as much energy as we want during his Delhi talks. Aim is to keep India dependent, block our domestic energy security, and use local church networks and foreign-funded NGOs as boots on the ground to trigger civil unrest whenever New Delhi tries to develop these regions.

Let’s also not forget the demographic warfare being waged in our tribal belts. Foreign money sustains a massive infrastructure of schools, hostels, and clinics that lower the barrier to conversion. It’s not just about a change of faith. It’s about creating pockets of population that are ideologically alienated from the Indian state and easily manipulated by external handlers. Intelligence reports have repeatedly shown how these conversion networks in places like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh overlap with areas of Maoist influence. In Kerala, weve seen radical networks exploit these conversion pipelines, with converts being funneled into terror modules like ISIS. The state cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this under the guise of secular politeness.

So when Rubio landed in India, instead of red carpets and cabinet ministers receiving him at the Kolkata airport, Rubio was met by mid-level bureaucrats. It was a clear, cold signal. In Jaipur and Agra, the protocol was scaled down even further. The high-level meeting with Rajasthan’s Deputy Chief Minister, Diya Kumari, was quietly dropped. Rubio and his wife were left to tour historic sites in 45-degree heat, received by junior archaeological and tourism directors.

During their joint press conference, S. Jaishankar, directly countered Rubios America First posture with a firm India First message. Rubio tried to pressure us to isolate Iran and buy US crude. Jaishankar made it crystal clear that India will source its energy from wherever it wants, be it Russia, Venezuela, or the UAE. Our national interest is not up for negotiation to suit Washingtons electoral cycles.

The funniest part of the trip was Rubio’s own clumsy slip-up during a press conference. A WION journalist, Sidhant Sibal, asked him about some remarks made by top American figures, specifically referencing Donald Trumps’ past comment calling India a hellhole. Rubio tried to dodge it, asking who said that? When told it was widely known, he blurted out that foolish people are everywhere. The US media and Trumps MAGA base back home went absolutely wild, accusing Rubio of calling his own boss foolish. The next morning, a very stressed Rubio was forced to run around doing damage control, insisting that Trump actually loves India and Prime Minister Modi. It just goes to show how hollow and performative this Western posturing really is.

We need the US as a strategic partner. In a world where Chinese expansionism is a constant threat in the Indo-Pacific, coordination through the Quad is necessary. But a strategic partnership is not a master-servant relationship. We dont interfere in their domestic laws, and they have no business telling us how to regulate our non-profit sector.

The proposed 2026 FCRA amendments are a vital national security shield. They close the final loopholes that have allowed foreign entities to interfere in our economy, manipulate our demographics, and stall our infrastructure. If groups like the Missionaries of Charity are doing genuine, transparent humanitarian work, they have absolutely nothing to fear. But if they, or any other group, think they can use high-profile Western visitors as diplomatic shields to bypass our laws, they may be in for a very rude awakening. New Delhi has shown that our sovereign laws are non-negotiable. It’s high time Washington accepts that.