Christmas has always been a festival beyond religion, social standing, caste, or creed. Its beauty lies in its universal charm, deep reverence, and joyous spirit. Just as Diwali or Eid or any other festival practiced here.
Is it a part of our Indian culture, ethos, and civilization to cause any kind of hurt, to allow miscreants to get away by vandalising, threatening, or forcing little children and minority institutions, asking them to stop Christmas celebrations?
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Didn’t our forefathers and extremely proud Indians of all faiths and beliefs work to give to our republic democratic principles, based on a foundation of equality and respect towards all religions bound by the comforting fabric of secularism?
Haven’t so many people of multiple faiths grown up as children looking at Christmas purely as a festival of coming together, sharing and giving, and a time for families and holidays in the same manner as Diwali?
Have we as a nation become so insecure weak and polarized that grown-up men with power, and muscle attack or speak roughly to innocent missionaries or teachers from institutions, similar to which so many Indians from different faiths have gained education upbringing?
What brings out the beastly behaviour in some men that they ask a celebration of a festival to be stopped, asking children of other faiths not to participate? When right-wing miscreants shouted at teachers in a school in Karnataka saying their school is “not for our country”, did they stop to think of our Constitution, which states we are a sovereign socialist, secular democratic republic? This is our India. And it is the India of each child irrespective of which festival his or her family keenly observes. Because every festival India becomes more colourful and joyous when others participate along with your very own.
This is our country’s spirit and the country’s spine. Some misguided groups and miscreants who get away by breaking the law and trying to break the fabric of our society because they “rule”; can never succeed in their mission.
But then we must also ask, why is a state quiet? Why don’t those who are elected to be our protectors, send one effective message by rounding up and arresting such people. It is not so much punishing them, but giving a message to so many Indians who are of faiths and have beliefs other than the majority faith, that this will always be your home, your country. It is actually sad and hurtful that such a message needs to be given at all. It is just a sad state that we have become as a nation that we have to prove to our very own brothers and sisters that you belong here.
Let us ask sincerely if we are going back to some dark age, when the rest of the world, including the Gulf countries which do not have democracy as its core founding principles, and yet have a rule of law and justice, is looking ahead. Ask Indian brothers and sisters settled in the Gulf about freedoms given to move freely and worship and practice their faiths in institutions provided for the same. Isn’t it an irony that Christmas is freely allowed to be celebrated schools in Saudi Arabia while miscreants attack schools that celebrate the same festival in our very own secular India?
We all must introspect. But the government of the day has to do it the most. It has a duty to its people to be decent, human, and caring. These are values that cannot be taught by just reading the Constitution but by being the right kind of people to be leaders. If the people do not feel secure and loved in their own land, they will still never leave their land, but ensure that their sacred soil and its people are protected by better leaders, when their time comes, every five years.
