Festive celebrations were disrupted and statues of Jesus were smashed in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas. In recent years, Christians have increasingly faced harassment around Christmas – but 2021 saw a notable surge in attacks.
Amid growing intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, who make up about 2% of India’s population, Christmas events were targeted by Hindu right-wing groups, who alleged Christians were using the festivities to force Hindus to convert.
In state of Haryana, on Christmas Eve, a celebration at a school in Pataudi was disrupted by members of a Hindu vigilante group. Shouting slogans such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’, a clarion call for Hindu nationalism, they claimed that the event, which included Christmas songs and Bible teaching, was being used for ‘religious conversion under the garb of celebrating Christmas’ and alleged they were ‘brainwashing children into accepting Christianity’. In the same state a Jesus statue was torn down and the Holy Redeemer Church in Ambala was vandalised.
