"If conversion is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued," says the RSS chief.

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday cast aspersions on the services of Mother Teresa by saying that conversion to Christianity was the main objective behind her service to the poor.

“Mother Teresa’s service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian,” he said while speaking at a function organised near Bharatpur by NGO Apna Ghar. “The question is not about conversion but if this [conversion] is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued,” he said. “But here [at the NGO], the objective is purely service of poor and helpless people,” Mr Bhagwat added.

He was addressing a gathering on Monday in Bajhera, a village near Bharatpur,, after inaugurating a ‘Mahila Sadan’ and ‘Sishu Bal Grah’ — homes for helpless women and children run by a non-governmental organisation Apna Ghar.

Mr. Bhagwat had been in Rajasthan for a couple of days and had already attended an RSS meet and delivered a lecture in the memory of Rajput ruler Rana Sanga.

Politicans across the country reacted to Bhagwat's remark.

I worked wid Mother Teresa for a few months at Nirmal Hriday ashram in Kolkata. She was a noble soul. Pl spare her. — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) >February 24, 2015