Lucknow: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to attend the canonization of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata in Rome in September, a parliamentarian from his party accuses the world renowned Catholic nun of trying to Christianize India.
“Mother Teresa was part of a conspiracy to convert Hindus to Christianity. Hindus were targeted in the name of doing service and then converted by her,” said Mahanth Yogi Adityanath, an MP belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people’s party” that heads the federal coalition government.
The 44-year-old parliamentarian, who is being seen as a ministerial candidate in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle by the prime minister, was addressing a religious meeting in Basti on June 18.
“Large-scale conversions to Christianity in the Northeast had led to a separatist movement in Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland,” said the ascetic-turned politician for controversial statements. “You are in a majority here so you do not know the conditions that Hindus face in NE (northeast). You should go and see the situation to realize what is happening,” he added.
According to him, Christians have specifically chosen Dalits for conversion and urged Hindus not to glorify Christianity.
“Dalits are our brothers but some of us do not embrace them like brothers. But when they go away and become Christians, some of us take pride in associating with them. This should stop,” he said.
When the Economic Times asked him about the comments, Adityanath said: “What I had to say I have said. What’s the problem with my speech?”
At the same function, he called for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. “We have to strengthen the path for Ram Mandir construction. We must move together on this. Who can stop you from building it? When nobody could stop us from demolishing the mosque, then who can stop us from constructing the temple there?
Yogi Adityanath had earlier defended the Ghar Wapsi (conversion of Christians and Muslims into Hinduism) program of rightwing Hindu organizations, saying: “If Ghar Wapsi is seen as wrong, then what Christian preachers do should also be considered wrong.”
Born Ajay Singh, the controversial ascetic has represented Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament) since 1998. He is head priest of the Gorakhnath Mutt, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, following the death of his spiritual “father,” Mahant Avaidyanath in September 2014. He is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (Hindu youth carrier), a social, cultural and nationalist group of youth who seek to provide rightist Hindu platform.
Mother Teresa’s canonization is scheduled for September 4 and the prime minister is reportedly planning to head the Indian delegation at the ceremony.