<\/p>\n
CHRISTMAS was the Big Day, the Bada Din for India\u2019s diverse communities regardless of anyone\u2019s 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 \u2018Black Friday\u2019 bargains.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s eyes. For her, the truest celebration was to become a gift of love to those whom the world had forgotten.<\/p>\n
Times have changed. There\u2019s a video clip of a Pakistani public intellectual on the internet complaining how, after shutting down children\u2019s parks, playhouses and music and poetry soir\u00e9es, the country had only one cultural inheritance left to indulge: to go out to eat a lot of good food. \u2018What did you do today? Oh, we went to a nice eatery and ate great varieties of meat.\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2018prince of peace\u2019. One of his favourite hymns was Abide With Me<\/em>, a favourite of India\u2019s 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\u2019s Christmas parties at Teen Murti Bhavan (his official residence) were well-known, at which he played a benevolent figure distributing gifts, much like \u2018Uncle Nehru\u2019.<\/p>\n Practised cynicism was in evidence on Christmas Day at the highest level of government in India.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 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. \u201cThe service reflected the timeless message of love, peace, and compassion,\u201d Modi wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cMay the spirit of Christmas inspire harmony and goodwill in our society.\u201d 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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cJai Shri Ram\u201d in full view of the police. In Nalbari, Assam, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists stormed St Mary\u2019s School in Panigaon, chanting \u201cJai Shri Ram\u201d and \u201cJai Hindu rashtra\u201d before setting fire to Christmas decorations. VHP district secretary Bhaskar Deka stated: \u201cWe don\u2019t want Christian festivals here.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Doublespeak is not anyone\u2019s monopoly, however. Atrocities against minority Christians in Pakistan are only too well documented<\/a> in the archives of the Human Rights Commission. This is not to deny the occasional empathy or even expression of solidarity offered<\/a> to the harassed community by Pakistan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2018Merry White Christmas\u2019 and the use of a \u2018Klanta Klaus\u2019 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\u2019s answer was withering: \u201cThe Blacks must be in the kitchen, darling.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s curious hold over Western Christendom?<\/p>\n The writer is Dawn\u2019s correspondent in Delhi.<\/em><\/p>\n Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHRISTMAS was the Big Day, the Bada Din for India\u2019s diverse communities regardless of anyone\u2019s 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2025\/12\/69530b4fd7bda.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n