Mother Teresa – Hollowed be thy name

Mohan Bhagavat, the RSS supremo while speaking in a conference made a reference to Mother Teresa (now Saint Teresa after the beatification). He said mother Teresa’s supposed service to the poor; the destitute was not without any motive. Her motive was conversion to ‘one true faith’. That was enough to ruffle many secular feathers. Many seculars, liberals came in unison against Bhagavat for commenting against a ‘noble’ soul. Many well-meaning people who are fed with the hallowed imagery of Teresa and of the missionary of charity came against Bhagavat strongly. [I remember studying a chapter on Mother Teresa in my middle school titled ‘Nirmala Hrudaya’ which translates into ‘Noble or Pure Heart’] Among others, the statement of Bhagavat did one good thing – It initiated a debate and more people got to know the real truth behind the supposed saint. But, did Bhagavat say anything wrong? Was he off the mark? When you try to investigate, you know the answer is no.

You may have your own misgivings on the RSS on various issues. But its service across the nation without motive can be seldom faulted. But can you say the same with respect to the Christian Missionaries? Not for a second, not once in a millennium. Charity is one of the important tools for proselytizing. They are pretty much open about it. Recently, the pope made the point amply clear. If the experience with the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster in South India is anything to go by, conversion is the pre-condition to get any kind of help from the missionaries. How low can these missionary hawks plumb? Nevermind. Now, coming to the issue on hand – Did Mother Teresa do the same? Yes, she did. It’s all well-documented by the first-hand accounts. It’s just that the Indian media is too lethargic and dishonest to dig out the truth.

Mother Teresa was a fundamentalist Christian. Like any fundamentalist of any religion, she minced no words about it and was pretty straightforward on the issue. In many of the interviews she stated her position as such. In one of her interviews, she was quoted saying "We are not nurses, we are not doctors, we are not teachers, we are not social workers. We are religious, we are religious, we are religious". She was against the use of contraception, against abortion and in fact in her Nobel Prize ceremony she proclaimed the greatest threat to world peace was abortion! Viola! Everyone was struggling to figure out the factor which was detrimental to world peace – This lady had an answer – abortion. Abrahamic religions especially Christianity exalts suffering as virtue. It springs from a fundamentalist belief – Man is a sinner. God sent his only son Jesus to earth to save us from sin and he suffered enormous pains in the process – all for us. So, if anyone is suffering, he is being closer to Jesus. This is one of the many other beliefs which shaped Mother Teresa’s psyche.

Money was never an issue for missionaries for charity as its PR machinery was very strong and millions of dollars kept pouring in. But, testimonies allude to the worst living conditions of the patients that were living there. Proper medication was not given even to the patients who were suffering from chronic diseases like cancer where pain was immense. Basic painkiller like morphine was also not given to many. When questioned, all was pushed under the carpet saying ‘love’ will substitute for all including necessary medications. It was a living hell. Christopher Hitchens called her ‘Hell’s angel’. Baptism was performed for the dying without anyone’s consent – as the process was altruistic because the motive was to ‘save’ the soul from eternal damnation.

No discussion on Mother Teresa would conclude without mentioning Christopher Hitchens’ name. He wrote a complete book on her with a provocative title – The missionary position. He along with Tariq Ali made a documentary for channel 4 – Hell’s Angel. Even before Hitchens, Dr. Aroup Chatterjee wrote a book on her - Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict, which challenged the popular perception of Teresa which we all had. In these works lists all the misdemeanors of Mother Teresa and her institution - misappropriation of money given for charity, hobnobbing with the worst of criminals and dictators and so on. Hitchens called her 'fraud, fanatic and a fundamentalist'.These are all very well documented. But the pusillanimous liberal media never dared a debate on it.

The fallen façade of the media – again!

Indian media as a rule treats the issues related to Christianity and Islam with kid gloves. This issue was no different. Forget getting deeper into the issue, the media did not have the guts to even take up the issue for the debate. Bhagavat had disturbed the hornet’s nest. Media treated Bhagavat like a man who had committed blasphemy for insulting their holy god. An honest or a neutral media would have ensured a debate in which there was a say for all the parties involved. But, that never happened. Only social media, blogs and a few online portals discussed the matter in depth. This is one of the outcomes of deification of any person. He becomes insulated from any criticisms or questions. The very act of questioning becomes a kind of blasphemous act. The way some media guys behaved as if it’s a crime to even question a revered figure like Teresa testifies the point. This just proves they lack two important qualities that are required for journalism – Intellectual rigor and honesty.

Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003. Beatification is the third step in the four-step canonization process. The main condition for a person to be beatified is that the person should have performed some miracles in others’ life which they should testify. This looks like classic case of superstition and sham. But as it is practiced by Christians, this will go unquestioned in most intellectual circles. The same media which doesn’t question this goes hammer and tongs whenever the issue is of Hindus. They question the authenticity of the Makar Jyoti in Sabarimala, they question the authenticity of Hindu gurus, and they question the rationale behind Hindu beliefs. Fair enough – As long as they question other faiths with same tenacity. That, they would never do. All in all, this entire incident was yet another naked display of pusillanimity and double-standards of our liberals and seculars.