Kolkata: Mother Teresa is an icon Kolkata is not just proud of but loves. She has given the city its most human face and to have that attacked by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has not gone down well.
"At a time when it is very hard worldwide to find somebody who would be inspiring and motivating, I request politicians to leave mother Teresa alone," says Urmi Basu, an activist with the NGO New Light.
"Mohan Bhagwat needs to know what he is talking about. Let him go to one of Mother Teresa's centres. I am sure he would experience a conversion of heart," said entertainment professional Terence Ashish Mandle.
Most realise there is politics at play. Sister Cyril, educationist and a Padmasree awardee who came to Kolkata from Ireland in 1956 and knew Mother Teresa since then said, "Ulterior motives have been attributed to Mother Teresa. I would like the people who attributing those motives to look at themselves and to look at all this reconversion business, home coming and this other rubbish. If you have this in your own heart and you are trying to do it to others, you will attribute it to someone else."
Shikha Mukherjee, journalist and commentator, said, "this is a way of mobilizing the waverers, the floating vote attracted to the Hindutva idea but was probably repulsed by the way they went about ghar wapsi and the attack on churches."
Even a recent convert to the BJP says conversion was never Mother's business. Barry O'Brien, educationist and a recent entrant into the BJP, said, "For me...my leader is Narendra Modi. I am very clear that I belong to BJP. I am very clear I am Indian, I want development. I am very clear that I am an Anglo Indian, a Christian a catholic. I'm very clear that I'm a mother Teresa fan."
Both educationists, Sister Cyril and Barry O'Brien said many had questions about why she did not ensure the education of all the children in her charge, whether the dying people she picked off the streets and cared for got the best medical care. But those are not the issues now, they felt.
Asked about the Congress demand that Mr Bhagwat apologise for his remarks, Missionaries of Charity spokesperson Sunita Kumar, said, "There is no compulsion that he has to go on his knees and apologise. It is up to him. I feel he is misinformed."
Ms Kumar also said Mr Bhagwat is welcome to visit any of Mother Teresa's centres. "If he wants to, the Missionaries of charity would be happy to show him around. If they asked me, I could show him around."
Mother's doors, they say, were always open. To all.