Kolkata : Condemning RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comment on Mother Teresa, a forum of minorities organisations in West Bengal Saturday said the leader’s “malicious” allegations against the Noble laureate were either the result of his gross ignorance or a “well-calculated sinister agenda” to justify forced reconversions.
Bhagwat, while addressing a function of an NGO near Bharatpur in Rajasthan, had said the Nobel laureate’s service to the poor was aimed at converting them to Christianity.
The State Forum Of Minorities Organisations “strongly condemned the very mischievous intention and aims of Bhagwat behind his malicious allegation against her (Mother Teresa)”.
“It is either the result of his gross ignorance or a well-calculated sinister agenda to come under international limelight with no efforts, to justify or to help his fellow workers to justify their universally condemned programmes of reconversion by allure or force, to make false propaganda and create confusion at the cost of communal harmony and human relations,” a forum statement said.
In the light of his conversion remarks, the Missionaries of Charity had described Bhagwat as “uninformed”. The Diocese of Calcutta too termed the comments “unfortunate”.
The statement said that after Bhagwat’s comments, at least two incidents of Christian bashing have been reported in Bengal.
“Our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rebuke to Sangh Parivar and assurance to the minorities in the assembly a few days back proved to be toothless.
“At least two incidents of Christian bashing in West Bengal have been reported to us since that occasion,” the statement said.
In the wake of these incidents, the forum is organising a public meeting March 3 in Kolkata.
It has also given a “clarion call to people of all walks of life irrespective of political affinity to get united against the intention and agenda of the evil force under the garb of patriotism”.