February 26, 2015
Derek O’Brien speaks on the insult made to Mother Teresa | Transcript
Full Transcript:
Only 43 people since independence has been conferred the Bharat Ratna. One of them is Mother Teresa.
The comments made a few days ago about Mother Teresa insults the memory of Mother. She is far from being a Christian nun; she is a national icon. She is an international icon. So a statement like this, I think, insults all the 43 people who won the Bharat Ratna, and it insults our Nation.
Sir, the man who made the statement, said she converts. The interesting thing – for people like us who lived their lives in Kolkata – is that Mother Teresa is on record saying that she converts. She had said this. She had said:
“I convert Hindus to become good Hindus, I convert Muslims to become good Muslims, I convert Christians to become good Christians.”
Follow the beautiful classical Hindu text of the Bhagvat Gita, or the Purana. We should follow these texts and not listen to some Bhagvat, because it is the wrong kind of advice he has been giving to our Nation. And the most dangerous part of this is nobody made clarifications on this issue.
Sir, I want to suggest to these kind of people to visit Nirmal Hriday, the home for the dying, or to visit Sishu Bhavan and interestingly listen to former Shiv Sena MP Mr Pritish Nandi, who lived in Kolkata.
The day this statement was made, no BJP spokesperson went on television. Why? Who is the spokesperson, we don’t know. Who is pulling the strings? All we know is that the train is going from Ahmedabad to Nagpur.
One quick point, Sir. On issues like these, there is a difference between the spiritual and the humanitarian. This is a Bharat Ratna who is being insulted. During the whole of last Session, the Prime Minister did not speak on the issue. There was nothing in the President’s Address either.
Sir, the book written on Mother Teresa was called ‘Something Beautiful for God’. God is everyone’s God. So no one should get upset.
Thank you.
