2 Days to Christmas... And This Hate? Shocking Assaults on Faith Across India

New Delhi- With just two days remaining until Christmas, a festival cherished by India's Christian community as a time of joy, peace, and togetherness, a disturbing wave of incidents targeting religious observances has swept across the nation. From harassment of roadside vendors in Odisha to confrontations with carol groups in the national capital and violent assaults in Kerala, these events have ignited widespread condemnation on social media and among civil society.

Critics attribute the surge to escalating right-wing nationalism and broader concerns over communal intolerance. As police investigations unfold and political voices demand accountability, these attacks raise alarming questions about religious freedom and interfaith harmony in a diverse democracy, threatening to cast a shadow over what should be a season of celebration.

A video going viral for past two days show BJP Jabalpur District Vice President Anju Bhargava mistreating a visually impaired Christian woman. She along with members of the Hindu Raksha Dal, entered a church and began misbehaving, accusing those present of religious conversion.

In Odisha's bustling streets recently, a group of men sparked outrage by allegedly harassing and intimidating impoverished roadside vendors selling Santa Claus hats, declaring the state a "Hindu rashtra" where "Christian items" have no place. Captured in a viral video circulating widely on social media platforms like X, the confrontation unfolded as the men interrogated the vendors about their religious identities and origins, insisting that Hindus should not peddle what they deemed Christian merchandise.

Despite the sellers' pleas that they were fellow Hindus from Rajasthan, merely trying to earn a living to support their families during the festive rush, the aggressors remained unmoved, urging them to pack up and leave or switch to selling Lord Jagannath souvenirs instead.

In a similar incident, just a day earlier, in Delhi's vibrant Lajpat Nagar neighborhood, members of the Bajrang Dal allegedly confronted a group of Christian women and children adorned in Santa hats, accusing them of proselytization and forcing them to disperse from a public space, an altercation immortalized in another video that quickly amassed views across social networks. The footage revealed tense exchanges as the activists objected to the group's presence, claiming that donning festive attire and engaging with passersby constituted an attempt to convert locals to Christianity, demanding they vacate the area immediately. The women, visibly shaken amid the heated standoff, faced allegations of harassment that, while unverified at the time, fueled a firestorm of online solidarity, with netizens highlighting the irony of curbing innocent holiday cheer in a multicultural metropolis.

Meanwhile, Police in Kerala's Palakkad arrested RSS workers in connection with an attack on a Christmas carol group, including children, during a house-to-house carol performance in the district, triggering widespread condemnation and raising concerns over communal intolerance during the festive season. Eyewitnesses recounted how the performers were abruptly halted late Sunday evening by the accused, who challenged their right to conduct the program and escalated a verbal dispute into physical violence, resulting in assaults on participants and the destruction of musical instruments. No severe injuries were reported, but the trauma inflicted on the minors has left parents and locals reeling, with authorities registering charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for offenses including unlawful restraint, causing hurt, and breaching public peace.

These incidents have elicited fierce backlash from opposition parties, civil rights advocates, and church leaders, who frame it as a direct assault on constitutional guarantees of faith and fraternity, especially poignant in Kerala where inter-community bonds have historically buffered against such discord.

Congress leader KC Venugopal took to X to denounce what he described as the BJP's "rabid hatred towards Christianity," accusing the party of orchestrating organized attacks on minorities across BJP-ruled states like Jabalpur, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, with full complicity from the ruling regime. He highlighted the escalation, where entire villages are boycotting Christians and even a blind woman was targeted in an insult that went unpunished by silent state authorities, while yesterday in Palakkad, Kerala where the BJP is masquerading as a "wolf in sheep's clothing", RSS workers assaulted a children's carol choir. Venugopal lambasted Prime Minister Modi for years of feigned affection toward Christians, only for the BJP and Sangh Parivar to expose their true venomous character, especially during Christmas, serving as a chilling warning to all minorities that the party's parochial, hate-filled agenda rejects India's pluralism and vows relentless assaults on those who don't conform to their narrow worldview.