Hindutva groups vandalise Christmas decorations in Chhattisgarh mall

Raipur: A group of Hindutva activists vandalised Christmas decorations at a shopping mall in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on Wednesday, media reports said, amid rising tensions ahead of Christmas.

Videos circulating on social media showed a crowd carrying sticks entering the mall and damaging Christmas displays a day after a Hindutva organisation called for a statewide shutdown to protest alleged illegal religious conversions.

An employee told The Indian Express that around 80 to 90 people forced their way into the mall, intimidated staff, shouted threats and resorted to violence. The employee said the mall had historically supported bandh calls but had never witnessed such behaviour.

The shutdown followed communal clashes earlier this month in Kanker district over the burial of a Christian man. Tensions escalated after the sarpanch of Bade Teoda village buried his father following a dispute over burial rites, leading to violence and police intervention.

Similar incidents were reported in other states. In Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva groups gathered outside a church in Bareilly, chanting religious slogans. In Assam, members of the Bajrang Dal entered a school in Nalbari district, damaging Christmas decorations and setting them on fire.

In Kerala’s Palakkad district, police arrested an RSS worker after a group of children singing Christmas carols was attacked. In Uttarakhand, a state-run hotel cancelled a Christmas event in Haridwar following protests.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India expressed concern over what it described as an alarming rise in attacks on Christians ahead of Christmas, saying such incidents undermine constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government announced that schools would remain open on Christmas Day to mark the birth centenary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with mandatory student attendance.

“We have never seen violence like this before. We’ve suffered losses of nearly ₹15–20 lakh. They arrived armed with hockey sticks & sticks, asking people about their religion and caste. They were so aggressive that someone from another caste or religion could have been killed,” said Aabha Gupta, Marketing Head of Raipur’s Magneto Mall.