NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday joined a large congregation of Christians at a Christmas service at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption here, as he continued with his outreach to the minority community.
"The service reflected the timeless message of love, peace and compassion. May the spirit of Christmas inspire harmony and goodwill in our society," he said.As part of the governing BJP's concerted efforts to strengthen its connect with Christians, party president JP Nadda participated in celebrations at the Christian Higher Secondary School, organised by the Mao Naga Christian Fellowship Delhi (MNCFD), and dwelt at the govt's focus on development in the northeast, a region with significant population of the community.PM’s outreach part of continuous efforts to engage with minoritiesAs part of his engagement with Christians, Modi had addressed a Christmas celebration organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India in 2024, attended an Easter event at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in 2023, and hosted a programme at his residence to mark Christmas the same year.Opposition was, however, quick to target him for incidents of vandalism and harassment aimed at Christians in some parts of the country.
Congress posted on X a video purportedly showing members of right-wing outfits vandalising Christmas decorations in Raipur in BJP-governed Chhattisgarh, alleging it exposed the true face of BJP.BJP’s efforts to reach out to Christians over the last few years have met with limited success as a section of the community continues to harbour distrust due to the Sangh Parivar’s antipathy to conversion, which has led to the enactment of stringent laws in several states as the party’s influence surged since 2014.In terms of absolute numbers, Kerala has the highest Christian population in the country, and the state will be heading to assembly polls in a few months along with Tamil Nadu, which has the second highest population of the community.Their numbers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are over 18% and 6% respectively, according to the 2011 census.With over 25%, Christians are a significant presence in Goa, but they wield maximum political influence in the northeast due to their dominant majority status in Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya.
Curated by Dr. Elena Rodriguez
