Vandals target Christmas decorations at Assam school, mob attacks mall in Raipur
GUWAHATI/RAIPUR: Right-wing vandals smashed Xmas decorations in Assam and Chhattisgarh on Christmas Day, leading to the arrests of four people in Nalbari, Assam, and an FIR in Raipur against 25-30 activists.The arrests in Assam — three activists of VHP and one of Bajrang Dal — took place after Christmas decorations were smashed at St Mary’s School in Nalbari. A group of Hindutva activists stormed the school, tearing down and burning banners and posters. They also targeted nearby shops in Nalbari town selling Christmas items and dismantled a Nativity crib on the school premises.Nalbari SSP Bibekananda Das confirmed the four arrests. “We earlier identified three active members, though the group was larger. All were locals of Nalbari district,” Das said. The case was registered after Fr Baiju Sebastian, the school principal, filed a complaint. He claimed that around 2.30 pm on Wednesday, miscreants entered the school premises, and damaged decorations, lights and plant pots, and set other articles on fire.Those arrested are VHP district secretary Bhaskar Deka, VHP district vice-president Manash Jyoti Patgiri, and VHP assistant secretary Biju Dutta, and Nayan Talukdar, a Bajrang Dal district convener. The activists shouted “Jai Shri Ram” and warned school authorities against celebrating Christmas. They allegedly threatened school officials and asked whether they celebrated Saraswati Puja on campus. “From this year, you have to stop Christmas celebrations,” one activist told a school official, according to a purported video of the event.In Raipur, stick-wielding members of a fringe outfit stormed Magneto Mall during Thursday’s Chhattisgarh shutdown against the violence around Kanker burial and alleged religious conversions. They vandalised property, gilded Christmas decorations, and damaged a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus figure. The mall management said they had suffered losses running into lakhs.The mall management claimed 40-50 people with rods and hockey sticks, allegedly asked staff and others inside, “Are you Hindu or Christian? What is your caste?” They even checked ID cards and badges of staff, officials said.An FIR was lodged based on a complaint by the mall.
