Hindutva groups target Christmas celebrations in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh
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Raipur/Lucknow: Attacks by Hindutva groups targeting Christmas celebrations have been reported from different parts of the country. In Chhattisgarh, an attack took place during a bandh called against alleged forced religious conversions.
In Raipur, a Hindutva group stormed into a shopping mall and vandalised Christmas decorations and Santa Claus figures. Around 100 people allegedly entered the mall and carried out the attack while raising slogans that they did not want Santa Claus. Raipur police said cases have been registered against 30 people and that further action would be taken after examining CCTV footage.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, members of right-wing Hindu organisations recited the Hanuman Chalisa outside a Christian church on Saturday night. The incident took place in the presence of the police. Police personnel were seen recording the chanting on their mobile phones but did not ask the group to disperse.
Earlier, two Malayali nuns were detained by Bajrang Dal activists in Raipur on allegations of forced religious conversion and later handed over to the police, following which they were arrested. The incident occurred in July at Durg railway station, where the nuns, Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis, were accused of taking girls for conversion.
The latest incidents come amid strong protests over recent attacks, including the assault on a visually impaired woman in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, over alleged religious conversion, and an attack by an RSS worker on a children’s Christmas carol in Palakkad, Kerala. BJP leader Anju Bhargava was identified as the person who assaulted the woman in Jabalpur.
Christian churches have condemned the incidents and expressed strong protest. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) said the attacks were shocking and that Christmas celebrations in the country were taking place under the shadow of fear. The CBCI demanded the expulsion of Anju Bhargava from the BJP and immediate action against organisations involved in such acts of violence.
