Festive celebrations were disrupted, Jesus statues were smashed and effigies of Santa Claus were burned in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas.
Amid growing intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, who make up about 2 percent of the population, several Christmas events were targeted by right-wing Hindu groups, who alleged Christians were using the festivities to force Hindus to convert.
Christians in India have increasingly faced harassment at Christmas, but this year saw a notable surge in attacks.
In Agra, members of right-wing Hindu groups burned effigies of Santa Claus outside missionary-led schools and accused Christian missionaries of using Christmas celebrations to lure people in.
“As December comes, the Christian missionaries become active in the name of Christmas, Santa Claus and New Year. They lure children by making Santa Claus distribute gifts to them and attract them towards Christianity,” said Ajju Chauhan, regional general secretary of Bajrang Dal, one of the right-wing Hindu groups leading the protest.
In Assam, two protesters in saffron, the signature color of Hindu nationalism, entered a Presbyterian church on Christmas night and disrupted proceedings, demanding that all Hindus leave the building.
“Let only Christian celebrate Christmas,” one of the men said in a video filmed during the disruption. “We are against Hindu boys and girls participating in Christmas function ... it hurts our sentiments. They dress up in church and everyone sings Merry Christmas. How will our religion survive?”
Police subsequently arrested both men involved.
In Haryana state on Christmas Eve, an evening celebration at a school in Pataudi was disrupted by members of a Hindu right-wing vigilante group.
Storming into the school, they claimed that the festive event, which included Christmas songs, dance and teachings of the Bible, was being used for “religious conversion under the garb of celebrating Christmas,” and alleged they were “brainwashing children through drama and speeches into accepting Christianity.”
In the same state, the day after Christmas, a statue of Jesus was torn down and the Holy Redeemer Church in Ambala was vandalized in the early hours.
A Christmas event that is held every year at Matridham Ashram in Uttar Pradesh state was also targeted by a Hindu vigilante group, who stood outside shouting slogans such as “stop conversions” and “death to missionaries.”
Father Anand, a priest at the ashram, said that the protests were indicative of the increased attacks that Christians in India have been facing, as allegations of forced conversion of Hindus to Christianity have become rampant and an anti-Christian hysteria has begun to grow across India.
“This is a symbol of what is happening because these people have impunity, and it creates tension,” Anand said. “Every Sunday is a day of terror and trauma for Christians, especially those belonging to those small churches.”
The Christmas attacks are only the latest examples of incidents of violence against Christians, part of a growing atmosphere of religious intolerance toward India’s non-Hindu minorities, namely Muslims and Christians, under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Since the BJP came to power in 2014, attacks on Christians have been on the rise. According to a report by Persecution Relief, crimes against Christians increased by 60 percent from 2016 to 2019.
A report released in October said that there were more than 300 documented attacks on Christians across India in the first nine months of this year.
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