Dia Mirza, Meenakshi Lekhi in war of words on Mother Teresa issue

MUMBAI: A war of words today erupted between actress Dia Mirza and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi over the latter supporting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark that conversion to Christianity was the main objective behind Mother Teresa's service to the poor.

Lekhi had claimed that Mother Teresa had admitted in an interview that her job was to bring people to the fold of Christianity.

Mirza, whose father was a Catholic, took to Twitter to slam the leader.

"Shame on you MeenakshiLekhi you contort personal faith/work to validate a statement that should be condemned. #MotherTeresa," the 33-year-old actress tweeted.

Her comment led to a war of words between the two on Twitter with Lekhi replying, "@deespeak Shame on you for not having the robustness to face the facts or accept the truth!"

The actress retorted by tweeting, "I hang my head in shame."

Mirza's stand against Lekhi earned her praise from some and criticism from others.

One user posted "@deespeak nothing else expected from sickulars like u. What character do u have?" to which the actress replied, "I am characterless because I am secular."

Mirza's last tweet on the issue was "My father was Catholic, my mother is a Bengali, I was raised by my Muslim step father and I'm married to a Hindu. I am Indian."