Congress MP and general secretary K C Venugopal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that Christmas celebrations this year were overshadowed by a coordinated wave of intimidation and violence against Christians across BJP-ruled states and urging immediate intervention to ensure such incidents do not recur.
In his letter on Monday, Dec 29, Venugopal said there was an “atmosphere of terror” during the festive period, marked by deliberate attempts to humiliate religious minorities and weaken India’s secular character. He warned that the incidents pointed to a pattern rather than isolated acts of intolerance. The Congress leader cited multiple instances from Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where mobs allegedly disrupted prayer meetings, vandalised churches and Christmas decorations, and intimidated worshippers. He said women and children were among those targeted, with celebrations turning into scenes of fear. Venugopal also referred to an incident in Palakkad, Kerala, where a mob attacked children, most of them under 15 years, participating in a Christmas carol procession, destroying musical instruments. He said the targeting of children’s religious celebrations reflected a deeper collapse of tolerance and pluralism.
Warning that repeated incidents of moral policing and violent disruptions during New Year festivities had become a pattern, Venugopal said the continued silence of the Prime Minister and the government only emboldened those spreading hatred and violence.
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