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A Publication
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A Christmas Message For Those Who Feel That This Christmas Is Different In India

By K.P. Sasi

25 December, 2014
Countercurrents.org

It was on this Day of December 25 that Jesus Christ was born. He was not a white man. He struggled for the emancipation and rights of the slaves, the poor and other oppressed sections. In political history, he can be called a revolutionary of that period. He used his spiritual strength for his revolutionary dissent against the oppressive State of that time. An intolerant State machinery crucified him. He died for the cause of the oppressed sections. Along with him many of his supporters were also killed. However, the oppressive State machinery could not deal with the mass support after the flow of their blood. When the mass support for Jesus Christ grew, the State machinery itself was forced to accept Christianity. Churches were formed. They grew in strength, properties and bureaucracy. Until the Pope Francis in his Christmas message reminded them on the quality of deviation from the original spiritual movement for justice. Please check: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/12/pope_to_vatican_bureaucracy.html

The critical observations on the Church by the Pope have to be analysed from the cause original spirit of liberation put forward by Jesus Christ. In the Indian context, it becomes more relevant when the very identity of all those who belong to Christian faith is being questioned. In memory of Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for humanity and the Holy Bible, it is time that Churches in India declare that there will be no peace without justice.

When over 300 churches and worship places of the Adivasi Christians and Dalit Christians were destroyed and over 6,500 houses burnt and looted and women belonging to Christian faith were mass raped in Khandamal in recent history, we have been going back to the original days of Christianity. When the followers of Jesus in this secular India are told that they are `foreigners’ and they can only belong here if they convert themselves to Hinduism, we are again going back in history. It is our job to tell the world loud and clear: That there was no Hinduism as a `religion’ when Jesus was born. The term `Hindu’ represented a civilisation around the Indus valley as per historical records. Hinduism as a `religion’ emerged in India much after Christianity and Islam arrived here. The Aryans were first colonial invaders of this subcontinent. They created the caste system. So if the foreigners should leave, the Aryans must leave first!

We have to tell loud and clear that every faith has to be respected as per our Constitution. This is the day when all claims about Ghar Wapasi movement of the communal fascists have to be exposed. As per the term `Ghar Wapasi’ which means `Back Home’, the Hindutva fundamentalists have declared that the Christian and Muslim converts must return to their religion called Hinduism. And Sangh parivar fundamentalists have been fanatically at work to convert people into Hinduism. A declaration has been made that by 2021, India will be completely a `Hindu Rashtra’. Here, the victims are Adivasis and Dalits. Because 80 per cent of the Christians in India are Adivasi Christians and Dalit Christians. The rest of the 20 per cent of the upper caste Christians seems to be not bothered. It is also a time today to think whether the Adivasi Christians and Dalit Christians have a right to celebrate Christmas in many parts in India.

Why should the Christian priests in Chattisgarh accept the terms of power of the Sangh Parivar who dictated that the Christian priests who taught in educational institutions should not use the word `Father’ along with their names? In that case, Maata Amritanandamayi whose Ashram is controlled by the RSS should not be called `Maata’ (Mother). It is time for the secular forces in India to come forward against the misuse of power by the politics of those who use majoritarian faith for their own benefits. Such moves by the Sangh Parivar as well as to initiate programmes for both forced conversions and induced conversions of Christians and Muslims into Hinduism during the period of Christmas has brought in major insecurity among a large sections of minorities in India.

This day of Christmas should also have been the day, when the Cardinal and the upper caste Bishops stop supporting the majoritarian communal fascists, just for the benefit of protecting their properties and profits. For peace will not sustain, if religious freedom is not granted. It is not just for the security of millions of Christians in India who adopt Christian faith, it is for the security of themselves in future. For they must remember that the threat of fascism can happen to the upper caste Christians also. And in memory of Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for humanity and the Holy Bible, it is time that Churches in India declare that there will be no peace without justice.

Whether we belong to a community of Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Budhists, Jains or Atheists, it must be our utmost priority to protect our freedom of faith as per enshrined in the Indian Constitution, drafted by Baba Saheb Ambedkar. This Christmas is also a time for all of us to remember the voices of Jesus Christ in support of the oppressed and the voices of his dissent against injustice. For those who do not wish to see further blood on streets any more in the name of religion, for those who wish to see India remain as a secular and democratic country, for those who uphold the values of human, environmental, cultural, economic and spiritual justice, for those who do not wish to witness a brutal emergence of fascism in this country, I wish you all `A Merry Christmas’, in memory of a revolutionary who died for our freedom, peace, justice and harmony.

K.P Sasi is an award winning film director and a political activist. He is also an Associate Editor of Countercurrents.org. He can be reached at [email protected]





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