Mother Teresa a noble soul: Kejriwal's reaction to Mohan Bhagwat's 'conversion' remarks

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday strongly objected to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's objectionable comments on Mother Teresa.

New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments on Mother Teresa have evoked a huge uproar across the political circle.

Bhagwat had on Sunday stoked a controversy by saying that the main objective behind Mother Teresa's service to the poor was conversion to Christianity.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday strongly objected to Bhagwat's objectionable comments on Mother Teresa.

Kejriwal, the newly elected Delhi chief minister, who has worked with Mother Teresa in past, termed her as a 'noble soul' and urged the RSS top brass to spare her of such remarks.

I worked wid Mother Teresa for a few months at Nirmal Hriday ashram in Kolkata. She was a noble soul. Pl spare her.

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 24, 2015

Meanwhile, RSS ideologue MG Vaidya justified Bhagwat's statement saying that missionaries, which serve people, undertake the services to convert them to Christianity.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien took the opportunity to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The TMC leader tweeted:

Now what will the pinstripe suit say to the khaki shorts about his views on Mother Teresa #condemn — Derek O'Brien (@quizderek) February 23, 2015

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla demanded BJP's apology and said that Mother Teresa shouldn't be insulted. Shukla further said that his party will raise the issue in the Parliament.

Speaking at a function organised by NGO 'Apna Ghar' near Bharatpur in Rajasthan, the RSS chief said, "Mother Teresa's service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian."

"The question is not about conversion but if this (conversion) is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued," he said.

"But here (at the NGO), the objective is purely service of poor and helpless people," added Bhagwat.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot, while criticising the statement by Bhagwat, said: "By giving these kind of statements, they (the RSS) are trying to create a religious divide. Mother Teresa comes from which religion does not matter, what matters most is the service she provided to the poor."

The RSS Chief was addressing a function in village Bajhera, near 8 kms from here, where he inaugurated 'Mahila Sadan' and 'Sishu Bal Grah' in the NGO for helpless women and children.

Later, RSS said on its twitter handle that the media reported "wrongly" and Bhagwat had only replied to former BSF DG's comments.

Media reporting wrongly. At Bharatpur Ex DG BSF said that Mother Teresa did Seva with motive of conversion. — RSS (@RSSorg) February 23, 2015

In reply, Bhagavat said, "let Mother Teresa know her motive for Seva, we do Seva without expecting any returns" Dr M Vaidya — RSS (@RSSorg) February 23, 2015