Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Wednesday said the alleged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) attack on a group of Christmas carolers consisting of schoolchildren at Puthussery in Palakkad on Sunday was “the backwash of a wave of attacks against Christians in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled north Indian States” during the festival season.
Mr Satheesan joined a chorus of Left Democratic Front (LDF) leaders, including General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh, who condemned the Sangh Parivar for “othering” Christians in Kerala, including threatening school managements to call off Christmas celebrations.
Both the ruling front and the Opposition have flagged an alleged attempt by Hindu far-right forces to gain a toehold in Kerala’s mindset by stoking religious schism ahead of the Assembly polls in 2026, and called for a mustering of secular democratic forces to counter the Sangh Parivar gambit.
‘Dichotomy’ in approach
He underscored the “dichotomy” between the BJP’s outreach towards the Church in Kerala and its storming of Christian religious groupings, vandalising of Christmas decorations, and assaulting of worshippers in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Odisha.
He said BJP’s overtures to the Church in Kerala were like that of “a wolf in a sheep’s clothing, if the persecution of Christians in RSS-controlled States were anything to go by.”
He said the Uttar Pradesh government struck Christmas off the list of school holidays. The Rajasthan government passed a diktat that school managements should not impose Christmas celebrations on children.
Mr Satheesan said the Chhattisgarh government, “employing a newly enforced law that targets religious conversions, has arrested scores of priests and nuns for gifting Bibles ahead of Christmas.”
Mr Satheesan said the attacks against Christians touched 730 cases till October last. The Central government has ensured that the National Commission for Minorities and the National Commission for Minority Education had no Christian representation and remained defunct, he said.
Mr Satheesan said the BJP sought to inject “anti-minority hate” into Central government institutions. A BJP-affiliated Central government employees union insisted that participants sing the RSS anthem, Gana Geetham, ahead of celebrating Christmas at the Post Master General’s Office in Thiruvananthapuram. The PMG called off the celebrations after other employees protested.
He urged Kerala society to be “aware of the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to divide the secular democratic polity along religious lines.“
Published – December 24, 2025 01:44 pm IST
