HJM tells schools not to celebrate Christmas

Hindu Jagran Manch has asked schools in Aligarh not to celebrate Christmas. Sonu Savita, president of the Aligarh unit of HJM, said the celebration by Christian schools was “essentially a ploy to lure and convert Hindu children.”

“I want to clarify here that we are not against Christians celebrating Christmas. But we do have a problem when a Christian festival is forced on Hindu children,” Mr. Savita told The Hindu. “This is completely unacceptable.”

He said these schools survived only because of Hindu students. “No school has a majority of Christian students. So why do these schools where Hindu students are in majority celebrate Christmas?”

The State secretary of HJM Sanju Bajaj confirmed the diktat. He said HJM volunteers were running an “awareness campaign” among the parents whose children studied in Christian schools. He said the HJM and other Hindutva groups would hold protests outside the schools if they “forced” Hindu children to celebrate Christmas.

Pramod Singh of the Christian Legal Association told The Hindu that threats like these were an attempt to make minorities second class citizens.

Many Aligarh based civil society group like Muslim Forum have approached SSP of Aligarh Rajesh Pandey against the HJM’s diktat.

The SSP, however, said the police were not aware of such a threat, but would take action against elements who take the law into their own hands.