NEW DELHI — The head of a prominent Hindu organization came under criticism Tuesday for remarks he made about Mother Teresa, in which he said that the Nobel Peace laureate’s service to the poor in India had been motivated by a desire to convert them to Christianity.
Mohan Bhagwat, head of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, made the televised remarks Monday at an inaugural ceremony for an orphanage and a home for impoverished women in the state of Rajasthan. “There are no services like Mother Teresa’s here,” Mr. Bhagwat said, adding of the nun’s work that “there was a motive behind it — that those who are rendered the service should become Christian.”
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Mr. Bhagwat’s organization wrote on Twitter that his remarks had been in response to another person’s comment that Mother Teresa had done “seva,” or service to others, with conversion as her motive. Mr. Bhagwat replied, “let Mother Teresa know her motive for seva, we do seva without expecting any returns,” according to his organization.
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