Mangaluru: A day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat accused Mother Theresa of converting people into Christianity in the pretext of service, miscreants have attacked a place of worship belonging to Christians on the outskirts of the port city.
St. Joseph Vaz worship centre located at Panir near Deralakatte in Mangaluru taluk was attacked by miscreants on Tuesday night. The incident came to light on Wednesday morning.
The glass enclosure of the statues of ‘Mother Mary’ and ‘Infant Jesus’ has been damaged due to stone pelting by the miscreants.
A local resident told police that he saw two unknown men suspiciously sitting in front of the worship centre in the night.
Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader rushed to the spot and directed the police to take necessary steps to nab the culprits immediately.
ACP Shankar Shetty and Sub Inspector Bharati along with a team of police arrived and conducted spot investigation.
The attack comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to protect all religious groups; his comments were seen as a response to a series of attacks on Christian institutions in New Delhi fueling concerns that minorities are being targeted by Hindu extremist groups.
On Monday Mohan Bhagwat incited fierce criticism after he said that Mother Teresa’s service to the poor was pinned on a drive to convert them to Christianity.
The RSS is the ideological mentor of the Prime Minister’s party, the BJP. Mr Bhagwat has, in recent months, presided over a series of controversies for declaring India is a nation of Hindus, a descriptor that has been attacked for undermining the equality to all faiths guaranteed by the Constitution.
The PM has been accused by opponents of failing to rein in hardline affiliate groups focused on a Hindu-dominant agenda that includes ghar wapasi – the campaign to convert Muslims and Christians to Hinduism.
(Agencies)
