Meanwhile, CBCI informed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the growing attacks on Christians during the Christmas season.
Published Dec 24, 2025 | 11:53 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 24, 2025 | 11:53 PM
CM Pinarayi Vijayan. (Supplied)
Synopsis: He also condemned the attack on a carol group in Puthussery, Palakkad, noting that BJP leaders initially attempted to justify the violence by maligning the victims. Strict action has since been taken against the accused, he said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday, 24 December, speaking at a press meet said Christmas, a celebration rooted in love, peace, sacrifice and brotherhood, was being deliberately targeted in several BJP-ruled states.
He cited reports of attacks on Christmas celebrations in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, alleging that these incidents were driven by communal hostility.
Vijayan pointed to the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to cancel Christmas holidays and make student attendance mandatory on the day, terming it part of a wider pattern.
He further delivered a strong rebuttal to what he described as an orchestrated attempt by Sangh Parivar forces to disrupt Kerala’s plural social fabric, warning that any encroachment on constitutional freedoms would be firmly resisted.
“We are convinced Kerala will stay away from such practices, but recent developments show attempts to challenge that belief,” he said.
The Chief Minister referred to the controversy over demands by a BMS union to include Ganesh vandana in Christmas and New Year celebrations at post offices in Kerala, which eventually led to the cancellation of celebrations following protests.
Christmas celebrations scheduled at post offices across Kerala were cancelled on 18 December, following a controversy triggered by a demand to include the RSS’s Gana Geetham as part of the revelries.
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing of the RSS, raised the demand in an apparent bid to showcase its patriotism on social media.
Postal employees’ associations said they were informed through an official email that the Chief Postmaster General, Thiruvananthapuram region, had ordered the cancellation of all Christmas events planned at post offices in the state.
He also condemned the attack on a carol group in Puthussery, Palakkad, noting that BJP leaders initially attempted to justify the violence by maligning the victims. Strict action has since been taken against the accused, he said.
On the night of Sunday, 21 December, a group of children aged between 10 and 15 years were moving from house to house in Surabhinagar, in Kerala’s Palakkad district, singing Christmas carols. They carried a small band set, including a drum bearing the letters “CPM”.
The children had borrowed it from a nearby CPI(M) party office for their performances. It soon caught the eye of a 24-year-old resident of Kalandithara, who stopped the group, questioned them about it, and then allegedly went on to break the band set.
Frightened, the children fled the spot, leaving their instruments behind.
The man, identified as Ashwin Raj, was soon arrested by the Kasaba police and booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 192 (provocation with intent to cause a riot), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
Police also noted that Ashwin Raj is already an accused under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA).
The incident has triggered widespread concern over the safety of children. At the same time, it has brought to the fore a decades-long history of reprisals, fear, and territoriality that has defined parts of the industrial belt.
Vijayan also confirmed that the government has ordered an immediate probe into reports of RSS-linked pressure on private schools to cancel Christmas programmes, warning of action against both those obstructing celebrations and institutions indulging in religious discrimination.
Linking the issue to the recent murder of Ramnarayan Baghel in Walayar, the chief minister said elements driven by hate ideology were attempting to import the culture of mob violence seen in North India into Kerala.
“We will prove Kerala is not the right soil for such poison,” he asserted.
Contrasting hate with humanity, Vijayan cited a recent heart transplant at Ernakulam General Hospital, where the heart of a Malayali saved the life of a Nepali national.
“This is Kerala’s culture—human love beyond religion, language or nationality,” he said, adding that the state would remain vigilant against forces seeking to destroy it.
Meanwhile, CBCI (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India) informed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the growing attacks on Christians during the Christmas season, including incidents targeting carol singers in North India and Palakkad.
Expressing deep anguish, the CBCI strongly condemned the rise in violence, saying such acts undermine the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
CBCI highlighted a viral incident from Jabalpur, where a visually challenged woman attending a Christmas programme was allegedly abused and assaulted by BJP city vice-president Anju Bhargava, and demanded her immediate dismissal. It also raised concern over hate posters in Chhattisgarh calling for a bandh on December 24.
Urging urgent intervention, CBCI called on both the Union and state governments to act firmly against those spreading hatred and to ensure the safety of Christian communities so that Christmas can be celebrated peacefully across the country.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar and Sreelakshmi Soman)
