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‘Christmas Is to Christians What Diwali Is to Us’: What Today’s India Can Learn from Gandhi

S.N. Sahu

“Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, frequently invoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ), ring hollow in the face of relentless attacks on minorities, their places of worship and their festivals. These assaults have intensified over the last eleven years. Recent attacks by BJP leaders and Hindutva vigilante groups on Christians – including verbal abuse directed at people celebrating Christmas – reveal a disturbing pattern of hate and intimidation aimed at denying citizens their cultural liberty and their constitutionally guaranteed right to practise their faith.

Vicious and frightening attacks have been carried out with impunity in several parts of the country, largely in BJP-ruled states. Even shopkeepers, including impoverished vendors professing Hinduism and other faiths – not just Chiristianity – selling roadside replicas of Santa Claus or Christmas caps have been threatened with dire consequences if they did not stop. This is despite their constitutionally protected right to engage in trade and commerce.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in an alarming violation of the constitution and norms of civilised conduct, has appealed to Hindus not to participate in Christmas celebrations, invoking so-called ‘cultural awareness’ to justify its actions. In reality, its campaigns have targeted people irrespective of faith. Shopkeepers, shopping malls and educational institutions have all come under attack.

Such intolerance towards Christians and all those associated with the joyful celebration of Christmas threatens the constitution and the very idea of India. That idea was shaped and sustained by the vision and values of figures such as Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi.

Swami Vivekananda on being Hindu

Swami Vivekananda was warmly received by Christians in the United States following his historic address at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. In letters to his disciples in India, he wrote, “I am here amongst the children of the Son of Mary and the Lord Jesus will help me.” He consistently emphasised that Hinduism did not merely tolerate other religions but sought unity with them. As he famously declared:

“We Hindus do not merely tolerate; we unite ourselves with every religion – praying in the mosque of the Mohammedan, worshipping before the fire of the Zoroastrian, and kneeling to the Cross of the Christian.”

For Vivekananda, all religions were attempts by the human soul to grasp and realise the Infinite. As he put it, “All religions alike, from the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, are but so many attempts of the human soul to grasp and realise the Infinite.”

This understanding led him to a powerful image of harmony among faiths: “So we gather all these flowers, and, binding them together with the cord of love, make them into a wonderful bouquet of worship.”

These words reflected a deeply rooted cultural consciousness grounded in respect for all faiths. True to this spirit, on the eve of Christmas on December 24, 1895, Vivekananda wrote to an American friend, Mrs Bull, wishing her a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and praying for her peace and good health. That example remains profoundly relevant.

Those who today target Christians and intimidate people of other faiths for celebrating Christmas stand in direct opposition to everything Swami Vivekananda represented.

Gandhi’s idea of faith and worship

What Vivekananda articulated was fully reflected in the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi drew inspiration for Satyagraha from many figures, including Jesus Christ, Prahlad of the Hindu tradition, Socrates of Greek history and Imam Hussain of Islam. They were the moral exemplars whose lives demonstrated the power of truth and sacrifice. Their ideas reinforced his belief in the essential unity of religions.

On October 28, 1911, writing in the Indian Opinion, Gandhi referred to the arrest of a Hindu in South Africa for bursting firecrackers on Diwali. The arrest was challenged by Dawad Mahomed, a Muslim, and Rustomjee, a Parsi, who pointed out that Christians were allowed to celebrate their festivals in the same manner without police interference.

Faced with this display of interfaith solidarity, the authorities released the arrested man. Gandhi observed that such unity in defending one another’s religious festivals strengthened fraternity across religious boundaries.

Respect for all religions and their festivals remained central to Gandhi’s thinking throughout his life. On Christmas Day, December 25, 1944, he stated, “We hold all religions in equal respect and all such festivals deserve respect.”

He urged that such occasions should encourage meditation and introspection rather than outward display, reminding people that Jesus accepted the Cross in pursuit of what he believed to be truth.

On January 26 the following year, Gandhi reiterated: “For us who believe in the equality of all religions, the birth of Jesus Christ is as worthy of veneration as that of Rama, Krishna, etc.”

This outlook reflected the inclusive vision that guided India’s freedom struggle, the framing of the constitution and the process of nation-building after independence.

On December 24, 1945, speaking at a prayer meeting in Sodepur, Gandhi urged people to respect all religions of the world as their own. On Christmas Day, December 25, 1946, at a prayer meeting in Srirampur, he observed:

“Jesus Christ might be looked upon as belonging to Christians only, but he really did not belong to any community, inasmuch as the lesson that Jesus Christ gave belonged to the whole world.”

On December 24, 1947, at a prayer meeting in Delhi, Gandhi remarked, “Christmas is to Christians what Diwali is to us.” He also cautioned, “Really, neither Diwali nor Christmas is an occasion when we should indulge in revelry and lose our heads… I do not regard Christmas as an occasion for people to indulge in drunkenness.”

While extending greetings to Christians in India and abroad, Gandhi made his position unmistakably clear:

“It has never been my wish that the freedom of India should mean the ruin of the Christians here, or that they should become Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs… For a Christian to become a Hindu or a Muslim is a fate worse than death.”

In his view, “A Christian should become a better Christian, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Sikh a better Sikh.”

This inclusive vision, rooted in mutual respect and equality among faiths, must be defended today. The responsibility lies with those in power to protect the Constitution and uphold the equal dignity of all religions, especially at moments such as Christmas when intolerance is being openly encouraged.

[S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan. Courtesy: The Wire, an Indian nonprofit news and opinion website. It was founded in 2015 by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu.]

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To Those Who Persecute Christians

Rohit Kumar

I would wish you “Merry Christmas” but you might have an issue with that, so I won’t. (It’s a pity, though, because Christmas is a festival celebrated all over the world by Christians and non-Christians alike and has a charm all its own.)

First, allow me to introduce myself. I am a teacher. I work with teenagers in schools in North India and help them navigate their adolescent years which, by all indications are getting increasingly difficult each passing year.

I am also a Hindu. The difference between you and me, though, most likely, is that that is not my primary identity. I am a human being and an Indian first and foremost (as are you). Everything else is secondary.

I believe all humans are worthy of dignity and respect, regardless of their caste, creed, background or religion. What do you believe?

Incidentally, I received my primary education at a Ramakrishna Mission School in New Delhi. Because of the nature of the school, I got quite a grounding in the Hindu scriptures, but at no point do I remember our teachers (who were sanyasinis) teaching us to hate other religions or consider ours supreme, the way many of you do.

In fact, one of the first things I remember memorising as a child was Narendra Nath Dutta (Swami Vivekanand’s) speech to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He began his speech by reminding his audience that there were many ways of reaching the divine:

“Sisters and Brothers of America,

I will quote to you…a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings:

“As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”

He then went on to give an admonition that is worth pondering:

“Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

“But their time has come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

The bell that tolled that morning, unfortunately did not ring the death-knell for all fanaticism.

What is in danger, instead, is insaaniyat, or if you prefer, maanavtaa (humaneness), something that seems to be profoundly missing in people like Anju Bhargava, local BJP leader from Jabalpur, who barged into a Christmas lunch for visually and hearing-impaired students, and physically confronted a visually impaired woman, making derogatory remarks about her disability, and telling her she would be blind in her next life as well.

Why so much hate? It’s not good for anyone, least of all for the haters. It is good to remember that “Hate is an acid that almost does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than it is to the object on which it is poured.”

When Narendra Modi became prime minister of India in 2014, he promised “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishvas” to all Indians. Sad to say, since then there has been a 550% increase in attacks on the Indian Christian community. My question is – why? What is so threatening about a community that barely constitutes 2.3% of the country’s population? (Or is that, like most bullies, you find it easiest to pick on the weakest?)

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has also issued a recent appeal urging Hindus to refrain from celebrating Christmas this year, and has asked shopkeepers, malls and schools not to sell or display Christmas-related items or greetings ahead of the festival. (This diktat has gone unheeded, incidentally. The markets I visited recently are full of Christmas trees and decorations which many (including and mostly non-Christians) are buying. The traders are prioritising sales over bigotry.

The people of the community you hate so much have a very simple creed given to them by the Christ they worship and follow, and whose coming into the world Christmas commemorates:

“Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and your fellow human as yourself.“ (Matthew 22:37–39)

It is a creed that has illuminated and defined the lives of millions – from the very famous to the virtually unknown – inspiring them to lead lives of sacrifice and selflessness and serve the poorest and weakest.

Christians, incidentally, were also forewarned by their Christ who told them not to be surprised when “men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely.” (Matthew 5:11)

He then exhorted them to

“Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven”. (Matthew 22:37–39)

How do you hate those who refuse to hate you back?

The justification that so many who hate and persecute Christians offer is that “they are converting people to Christianity.”

Whenever I hear that line, my mind goes back to January 26, 2001. A terrible earthquake had levelled entire cities and towns like Bhuj, Bachau and Anjar in Gujarat. Moved by stories of suffering coming out of Gujarat, I and a group of friends loaded up a couple of trucks with relief supplies and headed out to the westernmost district of Gujarat, where not much aid had reached.

After a 40-hour journey by road, we reached a town called Naliya, where we learned that a Catholic school was now serving as a makeshift base camp for relief work. Upon reaching that school, we were greeted by a young man who introduced himself as Father Saji, who invited us all for a warm meal and told us we could stay in the school dorm for the duration of our relief work there.

The next morning, I realised we weren’t the only volunteers present. Many other volunteers and NGOs who wanted to help the victims of the earthquake had arrived at the school as well.

I will never forget the meeting Father Saji had with all of us that morning.

“Welcome to Naliya,” he said. “Thank you all for coming here to help the needy. I want to make it very clear that even though we are Christians, and we are motivated by our faith, we are not here to preach or proselytise. I am Christian, you may be Hindu or Muslim or Sikh. It doesn’t matter. We are only here to serve the suffering, and we are very happy to join hands with you.”

He then led us in a prayer that all of us knew:

“इतनी शक्ति हमें देना दाता, मन का विश्वास कमज़ोर हो ना

हम चलें नेक रस्ते पे हमसे, भूलकर भी कोई भूल हो ना।”

“Grant us such strength, O Giver, that our faith does not grow weak;

May we walk on the righteous path, and never stray, even by mistake.”

The next three weeks were some of the most memorable ones of my life. Every day we loaded up small tempos of relief supplies and headed out into the Kutch desert, to villages that had been destroyed in the quake. Every evening after distribution, we returned to a hot meal in the school and the company of Father Saji and the other volunteers where we exchanged the stories of the day and made plans for the next day.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen an example of genuine Christianity in action. I realise you might not have. Perhaps it’s because you have chosen not to.

This Christmas, though, I pray that you will step outside the limits of hate you have circumscribed for yourself and see that there is a world full of good people out there, even if they are not the same religion as you.

Merry Christmas!

[Rohit Kumar is an educator. Courtesy: The Wire, an Indian nonprofit news and opinion website. It was founded in 2015 by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu.]

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Sangh Scares Off Santa: A Christmas of Fear

John Dayal

On Christmas day, prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit a cathedral in New Delhi which attracts hundreds of people of all faiths who come perhaps to feel the joy and peace associated with the child Jesus, or just out of curiosity to see the biggest celebration in the Christian calendar.

It is interesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ‘s calendar lists 25 December as Good Governance Divas in memory of the late prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who too was born on Christmas day. In Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has made attendance compulsory in schools, and erring staff may face stern action.

For the Modi visit, security is the top priority. Last Christmas, so as not to disturb the day for the faithful, a special table with a portrait of Jesus had been put up, a candle lit before it. A choir of young people sang familiar carols, and the senior clergy lined up to exchange formal pleasantries with the guest. Modi apparently also spoke to the Cathedral gardener, giving him some horticultural advice.

It will be much the same this year, and if all goes well, Modi will have told the world that he loves the Christians of Bharat, and they in turn love him even more. The new vice president of India, C.P. Radhakrishnan, was the guest of honour at the annual Christmas dinner by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India. The vice president in turn hosted the Bishops, and many more, at a lunch at his official residence, assuring the gathering that religious minorities were safe in India. Radhakrishnan called Jesus’s message a “beacon of compassion.”

In Raipur, however, the Catholic archbishop, Victor Henry Thakur, was very worried. He sent a letter to local churches, schools and other institutions urging caution, “In the light of the call for Chhattisgarh Bandh tomorrow, I feel and suggest that all our churches, presbyteries , convents and institutions should seek protection in writing from the local police. Please consider my suggestion because it seems to have been planned just before the Christmas, as it was the case at Kandhamal in Odisha.”

The Bishop was referring to the Christmas eve violence in the Kandhamal district of Odisha in 2007 where markets were set afire, women molested and Christians made to flee into nearby forests. A few months later in 2008, Kandhamal erupted again, with some 70,000 people displaced, 400 churches and institutions destroyed and some 4,500 houses burnt. A Catholic nun was gang-raped and paraded naked, the police as usual escorting the gangs.

In distant Left front-ruled Kerala, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) groups were coercing schools, teachers and parents not to participate in any Christmas activity. The schools buckled under the pressure. State education minister V. Sivankutty said school managements had returned money pooled in by students for the year-end celebrations under pressure from groups associated with the RSS.

Sivankutty said that the RSS was trying to replicate its “North Indian” model of “othering” minorities in Kerala and added that the state government would resist all such attempts.

“The government will resist any attempt to transform schools into stifling compartments of religious segregation by any fundamentalist group. Imbibing secular and democratic values at a young age lays the ground for a humane and secular society,” he said.

The hate and targeting of Christians in the country

The hate and targeting in the country is however as real as the suffocating fog in the national capital.

Every big and small Christian group has written to the Union home minister, Amit Shah, with copies marked to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO )on X, urging him to ensure that police and administration in states, metropolitan cities and the countryside ensure that troublemakers are contained. Letters were sent on behalf of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the Evangelical Fellowship of India, the United Christian Forum and the Bombay Catholic Sabha.

No letters were sent to Mohan Bhagwat at the RSS headquarters, till reports last came in. Hate was absolutely normalised. As was violence, the police was silent, or complicit.

Cadres therefore have been going on with business as usual, tilak on the forehead, a lathi in the hand, abuses and threats on the lips. Women leaders are leading from the front, and in Jabalpur could be seen manhandling a visually challenged woman attending a prayer service. The BJP leader said she was checking if forcible conversions were going on in the place.

The most obscene of such violence took place in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, on 15 December, a dispute over the burial of Rajman Salam’s father led to clashes. Hardline Hindu groups objected to the use of an ancestral graveyard for the Christian convert, resulting in injuries and police intervention. A little earlier, mobs vandalised a prayer hall in Bastar over similar burial rights, causing multiple injuries.

In Madhya Pradesh, targeted attacks disrupted Christmas prayer meetings in several areas. On December 10, in Jabalpur, a mob assaulted Christians during a service, accusing them of forced conversions under anti-conversion laws. Similar disruptions occurred in Bhopal and Indore, where prayer gatherings were halted by vigilantes, leading to arrests of pastors rather than the attackers.

In Uttar Pradesh, on December 5, a church in Lucknow was vandalised, with worshippers beaten and literature destroyed. These incidents reflect a coordinated effort to intimidate Christians during their festival season, often justified by claims of illegal conversions.

In Rajasthan, the utterly weaponised anti conversion law has triggered a spike in persecution, with mobs attacking churches and homes. On December 12, in Jaipur, a prayer meeting was raided, resulting in injuries to women and children.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) sent a letter to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on the Amabeda village tensions following a burial dispute. The letter detailed continuing threats and called for protection of Christian rights.

Christians groups have this year documented over 700 incidents of violence till November this year, noting 334 incidents from January to July 2025, including 107 cases of threats and harassment, and 116 false accusations and arrests. EFI’s Religious Liberty Commission reported physical violence in 42 incidents and worship disruptions in 29 cases.

Statistics reveal the scale of the problem. In 2024, UCF recorded 834 incidents of violence, averaging 69.5 per month, a sharp increase from 127 in 2014. EFI verified 640 cases that year, including 255 threats, 129 arrests, 76 physical assaults, and gender-based violence in 17 instances. By November 2025, UCF documented 706 incidents, with EFI projecting over 700 for the year. Compared to 2024, 2025 shows a 10-15% rise, driven by hate speech and vigilante actions in states like Uttar Pradesh (95 incidents by July) and Chhattisgarh (86).

Arrests of pastors and Christians have intensified in 2025, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Uttar Pradesh, at least 12 pastors were arrested by August on false conversion charges, often after mob attacks where victims are detained.

On 20 July, in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, six pastors were arrested during a disrupted service and beaten in custody. Five more pastors faced assaults in jail in August, with documented evidence ignored. In September, in Mangaluru, Karnataka, arrests followed stabbings by Hindu activists, but charges targeted Christians. Between 2020 and 2023, over 855 were detained nationwide on conversion allegations.

A sustained hate campaign drives this violence, portraying Christians as threats to Hindu culture. Anti-Christian propaganda has caused a 500% surge in attacks over the decade. In 2025, hate speech events targeted minorities, framing conversions as invasions. Elected officials’ rhetoric emboldens mobs, leading to calls for genocide in Chhattisgarh. Social media spreads messages inciting violence. It remains a Christmas under threat.

[The writer is a former editor, member of the National Integration Council and past president, All India Catholic Union. Courtesy: The Wire, an Indian nonprofit news and opinion website. It was founded in 2015 by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu.]