New Delhi: The opposition parties Tuesday joined Church and civil groups to denounce a Hindu leader’s attempt to denigrate Mother Teresa’s services to the poor.

In parliament, the opposition parties demanded an apology from the National Democratic Alliance government for the remarks of Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, the national volunteers’ corps) on the Nobel Laureate nun, who worked among the poorest of the poor for more than half a century.

“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,” Bhagwat reportedly told a function organized by an NGO near Bharatpur in Rajasthan state.

“The question is not about conversion but if this (conversion) is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued,” Bhagwat had said. “But here (at the NGO), the objective is purely service of poor and helpless people,” he had added.

Addressing the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that Bhagwat’s “comments have been made against a person who is not just the country’s, but the world’s legacy. No amount of condemnation can be enough.”

As other opposition parties cried “shame,” the Congress said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must apologize for the RSS, its ideological mentor.

Federal Minister Venkiah Naidu dodged the opposition fury saying, “I can give explanation on what the government says, not on what some party’s chief or general secretary says.”

RSS is the umbrella body of rightwing Hindu groups and BJP is considered their political arm.

Meanwhile the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) too expressed its concern and distress over the RSS leader casting aspersion on Mother Teresa and attributing ulterior motives to her humanitarian services.

Hailing Mother Teresa as “one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century, CBCI spokesperson Fr. Joseph Chinnayyan termed as “quite unfortunate” that the services of such a world renowned Nobel Prize laureate would be dragged into such unwarranted controversies. The priest also recalled that India had honored her with its highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna (jewel of India).

Mother Teresa, the Church official asserted in a statement, never had any hidden agenda nor did she ever use her services as a cover up for conversion. “She always maintained that her main concern was to ease the suffering of people and to help the poor and the suffering to lead a life of relief and self-respect,” Father Chinnayyan said.

The priest recalled that Mother Teresa had explained to her critics that her motive for “such a self-effacing service to the poor and to the suffering” was to help the Hindu live a better Hindu, the Muslim a better Muslim and the Christian a better Christian with proper human dignity.

“Mother Teresa has become a symbol of love, care and compassion for the world, a legacy that will be carried on for ages to come,” the CBCI note said.

Fr Chinnayyan said the Church upholds the freedom of speech of every citizen, but pleads people to imbibe “nation’s age-old passion for truth, unbiased support for the humanitarian works and compassion for the poor and the suffering may not be jeopardized by any cynical motive or intolerant gesticulations.”

The Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious congregation founded by Mother Teresa, reacted to Bhagwat’s remarks saying he was ill informed.

“Mohan Bhagwat is ill informed. He should come and visit the mission to know more about our work,” said the congregation’s spokesperson Sunita Kumar. “The mission works for the poor irrespective of their religious background. The people of the country and especially Kolkata remember the Mother for her compassion and love for the poor,” added Kumar, a Sikh.

On Tuesday, the RSS clarified its chief’s remarks by saying he was only responding to a statement made by another person at the event. “Dr Bhagavat was responding to the observation made by chief guest of function Prakash Singh Ex DG BSF that under the guise of service, what was going on was religious conversion,” a tweet from the RSS said.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had slammed Bhagwat, saying Mother Teresa was a “noble soul” and should be spared from 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,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Albania-born Mother Teresa, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, died in 1997 in Kolkata. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003.