How PM Modi snubbed Sangh Parivar on Mother Teresa canonization

Resisting Sangh Parivar pressure, Modi ensured that India is represented at a senior level at the mass on September 4

The Vatican had invited Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to attend the Pope Francis-led open-air mass on September 4 where Mother Teresa is to be canonised as a Catholic saint. Sections in the Sangh Parivar didn’t want any Indian government representation  at the mass, and some even initiated an online petition in which it called Mother Teresa a “soul harvester” who proselytised the poor.

According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources, the PM snubbed the Sangh Parivar by deciding that India is represented at a senior level at the mass. While he himself couldn’t go ostensibly as the Egyptian president will be on a state visit to India from September 1 to 3 and also because of domestic political events, he decided that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj should lead a delegation to represent India government at the mass. Swaraj is number three in the council of ministers after the PM and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The delegation also includes BJP’s Christian leaders like its Deputy Chief Minister in Goa Francis D’Souza and K J Alphons.

The Sangh Parivar’s views on Mother Teresa are well known, most recently voiced in February 2015 by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat at an event in Alwar, Rajasthan. There, Bhagwat insinuated that in the name of service, Mother Teresa converted people to Christianity.

The decision to send a delegation, led by Swaraj, was met with protests from right wing groups, including from Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Both the BJP and VHP consider the RSS as their ideological parent. VHP’s international joint general-secretary Surendra Jain said Mother Teresa’s canonisation would lead to more conversions in India. An online petition on change.org by a group called ‘BJP Friends’ was also initiated. The petition asked the “Government of India to not send representation at Mother Teresa’s canonisation”.

But, if the PM was unambiguous in his criticism of gau rakshaks, or cow protectors, at public events earlier this month, he used his monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann ki Baat’ on Sunday to distance himself from the Sangh Parivar position on Mother Teresa. In ‘Mann ki Baat’, Modi said, “As Indians we feel proud about the canonisation of Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa.” Mother Teresa had been conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1980. According to sources, the PM referred to Teresa’s Bharat Ratna advisedly because in recent days right wing groups have demanded that the honour be withdrawn.

The PM further said Mother Teresa dedicated her life in the service of the poor. “She was an Albanian. English was not her mother tongue and yet she adopted it as her language and served the poor,” Modi said. He said the delegation led by Swaraj will represent 1.25 billion Indians at her canonisation on September 4.

The PM’s outreach to the Catholics also bodes well for the BJP in Goa. The state currently has a BJP government and is scheduled to go to polls by February 2017. Nearly a third of Goa’s population is Christian. The BJP has also been keen to expand its footprint in Kerala and northeastern states, where population of Christians is significant.

The Naga Peoples Front, which has a government in Nagaland, is an ally of the BJP. Nagaland is predominantly Christian. In February 2015, Modi had graced an occasion to celebrate the elevation to sainthood of Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Mother Euphrasia at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. In his speech that had come in the wake of attacks on churches in Delhi, Modi had said that his “government will ensure there is complete freedom of faith and that everyone has the undeniable right to retain or adopt the religion of his or her choice without coercion or undue influence.”