Indian Hindu nationalist minister pays tribute to Mother Teresa
Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh was the guest of honour at a commemoration ceremony organised by the Bishops’ Conference. Several times, BJP members have tried to belittle the character of the Saint of Kolkata.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – India’s Home Affairs minister paid tribute to Mother Teresa, canonised by Pope Francis on 4 September in St Peter’s Basilica.
Yesterday, Rajnath Singh, one of the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, was guest of honour at a ceremony organised in Delhi by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) to mark the canonisation of Mother Teresa.
Speaking before the assembly, he noted that Saint Theresa of Kolkata came to India to “conquer hearts” with love". He also said that the government would provide security to minorities and “all those who work towards humanity.”
The ceremony to commemorate the "Mother of the poorest of the poor" was held at the government Vigyan Bhawan conference centre, organised by the CBCI in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Delhi and the dioceses of Faridabad and Gurgaon.
Top officials from the Catholic Church in India were present, including CBCI president Card Baselios Cleemis; Card Oswald Gracias, president of the Conference of Bishops of the Latin Rite; Card Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi and former CBCI president; and Card George Alencherry, major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Mentioning attacks on minorities on the eve of 2015 assembly election in Delhi, Minister Singh noted that he would ensure that no such incident occurs either before or after an election in future.
He said Saint Mother Teresa was referred to as Mother because of the love bestowed by citizens on her.
The presence of the minister, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s staunch loyalists, shows how Mother Teresa was really loved by everyone, including Hindus, as evinced by the presence of an Indian government delegation led by the Foreign Affairs minister at the canonisation ceremony at the Vatican.
This was followed by an impressive government-sponsored ceremony in Kolkata attended by more than 20,000 people.
Singh’s presence was that more significant since his party’s ideological and paramilitary groups, namely the radical Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), tried to belittle Mother Teresa’s character.
However, civil society groups and political leaders responded unanimously on every occasion saying that she was a saint who spent her entire life in the service of those at the bottom of society.
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