Amazon India snubs report of funding conversion in NE

NEW DELHI, Nov 15: Amazon India has rubbished the charge of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-linked magazine Organiser that the company is funding conversion in the Northeast.
In its November issue, Organiser claimed “e-commerce giant Amazon is financing the Christian conversion module run by American Baptist Mission (ABM).”
It said there is a possibility of a money laundering ring run by multinational companies and the ABM to fund India’s huge missionary conversion mission.
“The American Baptist Mission is running a front in India known as the All India Mission. This is their frontal organization which has openly claimed on their website that they have converted 25 thousand people to Christianity in Northeast India,” the magazine said in its latest issue.
“Amazon is sponsoring the conversion module of All India Mission by donating money against every purchase by an Indian,” the magazine further alleged.
But a spokesperson of the company told this scribe that Amazon India does not have any relationship with All India Mission.
“Amazon India does not have any relationship with All India Mission or its affiliates nor does the AmazonSmile program operate on the Amazon India marketplace. Where the AmazonSmile program does operate, customers can choose to donate to a charity they prefer from multiple non-profits that register themselves under the program. The AmazonSmile program does not endorse the views of any charity participating in the program,” the spokesperson said.
The magazine also cited that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has issued a notice to Amazon in connection with the same claims levelled by the magazine.
Earlier this month, three representatives of Amazon had appeared before the Commission and clarified that “funding to the All India Mission, which runs many orphanages, was governed by the Amazon US office and they would get the requisite information within 10 days.”
But even after allegedly sending repeated reminders, the e-commerce player has not replied to the complaint filed over funding ‘All India Mission’.
The child rights body, in the notice, had said it is in receipt of a complaint from NGO Social Justice Forum, Arunachal Pradesh, wherein it has been alleged that the All India Mission, an organisation registered in the US and the UK, is involved in “unlawful practices” by “illegally converting children in India”.