BHUBANESWAR: Three frontal organisations of RSS on Wednesday sought the intervention of Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal into Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s move to extend financial aid to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC) in the state. They termed it as an ‘anti-constitutional’ act.
Representatives of the state unit of VHP, Hindu Jagaran Manch and Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram met the Governor at Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum protesting the state government’s financial assistance of Rs 78.76 lakh to MoC.
Describing Naveen as anti-Hindu, the delegation comprising four members said use of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for a minority community ahead of the panchayat elections is aimed at influencing Christian voters.
What is baffling is that the Chief Minister donated the fund to the MoC without any application from the organisation while request letters from many poor people for such aid are pending for several years, they said. Questioning the secular credential of the Chief Minister, the Sangh leaders said the BJD government has stopped supplying ration to Jalespata Kanyashram to appease Christian minority after the Kandhamal riots following the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
The Chief Minister should show similar concern for a large number of servitors of mutts and temples of the state who are living in distress due to closure of religious places during the Covid-19 pandemic, they said. The delegation led by VHP’s state unit president Prafulla Mishra urged the Governor to take appropriate steps for suspension of the aid announced by Naveen.