The ‘Hail-Modi’ Christmas ‘party’ for a select group of Christian busybodies who consider themselves ‘leaders’ has backfired.
Despite obstructions and attempts to split the Christian community, the statement titled ‘Christmas Celebration with the PM is Not in Our Name!’ has drawn over 3,200 signatures in a very short time:
“We are in the Christmas Season: a time when we are all called to internalise and actualise the gifts of joy, love, peace, truth, justice and hope which Jesus our Saviour offers to us! Today we also need to take legitimate pride in the fact that Christians in India have contributed significantly to the country… However, in the recent past, particularly since 2014, Christians in India have been victims of continued attacks and vilification from members of the ruling regime, all over the country. Christians and Christian schools and institutions have been hounded and harassed, their places of worship destroyed, they have been denied their ordinary rights as citizens and been subject to denigration and demonization…. Since May 3, 2023, the Christians of Manipur have been subject to constant attacks which still continues unabated and with apparent approval from the BJP Governments both in the State and at the Centre. In the wake of all this, it is ironic that the Prime Minister hosted around 100 Christian representatives of different denominations on Christmas morning for a celebration.”
What was touted as “hosted by the prime minister” was a party conceived and organised by one Anoop Antony Joseph, the former national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP. He now “coordinates” work at the ‘Modi Story’ dedicated to projecting the prime minister as a larger-than-life politician, focusing on the “inspiring life of Shri Narendra Modi ji.” In short, he is an activist of the “cult-worshipping” brigade that is springing up like a poisonous mushroom.
Those who willingly walked into this brazen “cult-trap” included Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Roman Catholic Church and an advisor to the Pope; Anil Couto, the archbishop of Delhi, and Paul Swarup, the Delhi bishop of the Church of North India, which serves the Anglicans. The guest list also included Thomas Mar Anthonios, a bishop of the Kerala-based Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Gurugram, Haryana, and Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, the archbishop of the Syro-Malabar........