CHRISTMAS was the Big Day, the Bada Din for India’s diverse communities regardless of anyone’s religious beliefs. The big day was a holiday. It was for some a day to introspect, for others an occasion to meet up with the family, often around a large table of Christmas repast. Christmas offered, as it still does, an occasion to enjoy the delightful music of hymns and carols in churches and public events. It was an occasion to join a midnight mass here or listen to the story of Scrooge there, the miserly character from Charles Dickens. And Christmas is also increasingly identified with shopping crowds looking out for ‘Black Friday’ bargains. For Mother Teresa, Christmas was a living liturgy. She observed it by making the Nativity scene a reality in the slums and hospices of Kolkata. The crib was not just a display; it was the bed of a dying destitute person she was cleaning. The Christmas star was the light of hope in a sufferer’s eyes. For her, the truest celebration was to become a gift of love to those whom the world had forgotten. Times have changed. There’s a video clip of a Pakistani public intellectual on the internet complaining how, after shutting down children’s parks, playhouses and music and poetry soirées, the country had only one cultural inheritance left to indulge: to go out to eat a lot of good food. ‘What did you do today? Oh, we went to a nice eatery and ate great varieties of meat.’ Whether he was sardonically mimicking a sad truth or exaggerating somewhat, his intervention reminded me of increasing occasions of religious and cultural celebration that have turned into a consumer fest everywhere. Gandhiji had a soft corner for Christian ethics. He used the teachings of Jesus to critique Western civilisation, pointing out the contradiction between Christian nations professing love and peace while engaging in imperialism, warfare, and industrial exploitation. He challenged Western Christians to embody the ‘prince of peace’. One of his favourite hymns was Abide With Me , a favourite of India’s military bands before the advent of Hindutva rule. Nehru often attended public Christmas events, especially those involving children. He made appearances at Christmas parties organised for orphans, schoolchildren, and the underprivileged. The Nehru family’s Christmas parties at Teen Murti Bhavan (his official residence) were well-known, at which he played a benevolent figure distributing gifts, much like ‘Uncle Nehru’. Practised cynicism was in evidence on Christmas Day at the highest level of government in India. That was then. Much of Western Christendom remains in ferment today, grappling with several of the issues Gandhiji had described with reference to the teachings of Christ. In India, however, Christians have become a targeted community. Practised cynicism was in evidence on Christmas Day at the highest level of government. With elections due in Kerala shortly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was beside himself with joy, proclaiming peace and piety at a Christmas service he attended at a Delhi cathedral. “The service reflected the timeless message of love, peace, and compassion,” Modi wrote. “May the spirit of Christmas inspire harmony and goodwill in our society.” The BJP president was singing paeans to Christmas at another service. As they spoke and earlier, in the run-up to Christmas festivities, Hindutva mobs displayed their brute force of lumpenism — not without police acquiescence. They attacked and terrorised followers of Jesus Christ and the Christmas preparations across the country. The incidents took place almost entirely in states where the BJP runs state governments. For instance, the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh ordered schools to remain open on Dec 25, insisting the students had to celebrate the 100th birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In Bareilly, according to reports, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad members sat outside the church at Bishop Conrad School, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa and shouting “Jai Shri Ram” in full view of the police. In Nalbari, Assam, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists stormed St Mary’s School in Panigaon, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hindu rashtra” before setting fire to Christmas decorations. VHP district secretary Bhaskar Deka stated: “We don’t want Christian festivals here.” The BJP government reportedly ordered the arrest of four in the incident. Elections are also due in Assam. Yes, every BJP-ruled state witnessed anti-Christmas vandalism. Doublespeak is not anyone’s monopoly, however. Atrocities against minority Christians in Pakistan are only too well documented in the archives of the Human Rights Commission. This is not to deny the occasional empathy or even expression of solidarity offered to the harassed community by Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership. The blasphemy laws remain open to misuse by anyone seeking to settle scores with a Christian individual or an entire community. In the US, racism has traditionally trumped religious affinity. White Christians have lynched Black Christians. Created by six Confederate soldiers in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan used Christmas-themed events and imagery to promote its white supremacist ideology and recruit members. The hooded brotherhood circulated flyers and held events around Christmas time. These have included recruitment flyers wishing people a ‘Merry White Christmas’ and the use of a ‘Klanta Klaus’ figure to distribute gifts at KKK-sponsored sales and gatherings. The migration of Cassius Clay to become Muhammad Ali was explained by Ali in a lighter vein. He asked his mother why all the angels were white. Why was there no Black apostle at the last supper of Christ? The mother’s answer was withering: “The Blacks must be in the kitchen, darling.” More recently, during his presidential campaign, Barack Obama shrewdly and swiftly distanced himself from the leading Black American priest who had baptised his daughters. Jeremiah Wright spoke up for Palestine and slammed America in his sermons for wreaking havoc on defenceless people around the world for no legitimate reason. But then, which presidential candidate would not genuflect before the lobby that spearheads Israel’s curious hold over Western Christendom? The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi. Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2025