New Delhi, December 25, 2025: Multiple incidents of mobs vandalising Christmas decorations and disrupting preparations for the festival have been reported across India ahead of Christmas, according to Indian media outlets.
Local media reported that a mob armed with wooden sticks vandalised Christmas decorations and installations at a shopping mall in Raipur, the capital of India’s Chhattisgarh state. The incident reportedly occurred on the same day a Hindu organisation, Sarva Hindu Samaj, had called for a statewide bandh in protest against alleged religious conversions.
According to The Hindu, the bandh was announced following tensions linked to the burial of a person from a converted family in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. Indian daily The Indian Express carried eyewitness accounts of the Raipur incident, quoting mall employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“One group of around 80–90 people barged in. We have always supported bandh calls, but I have never seen such behaviour,” one employee was quoted as saying. “The mob threatened us, shouted at us, and indulged in violence.”
Another employee told The Indian Express that the situation caused panic among staff and visitors. “Some women were crying. They were charging at those trying to stop them. They kept saying they did not want to see Santa. People who had come to watch movies were scared,” the employee said.
Videos purportedly showing the vandalism at Raipur’s Magneto Mall also circulated widely on social media.
In a separate incident, The Hindu reported that members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal vandalised a school in Assam’s Nalbari district on Wednesday, disrupting Christmas preparations. The group has been described by the US Central Intelligence Agency as a Hindu militant organisation.
Citing police officials, The Hindu said Bajrang Dal members entered St Mary’s School in Panigaon village, damaged Christmas banners and posters, and disrupted preparations for Christmas Day celebrations. “The activists burnt banners and posters of the celebration and raised slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram,’ warning the administration against celebrating Christmas at the school,” an unidentified police official was quoted as saying.
The report added that Bajrang Dal activists later went to shops in Nalbari town selling Christmas-related items and set fire to some goods near the Jain Mandir area. Similar incidents of vandalism at shops selling Christmas decorations were also reported.
Bajrang Dal’s Nalbari district secretary, Bhaskar Deka, told the media that the group opposed Christmas celebrations in the area. “We don’t want Christian festivals here. Trade in any festival-related items of Indian origin, but we do not accept doing business with a festival of non-Indian origin,” he was quoted as saying.
Earlier, media reports noted that Kerala’s Education Minister V. Sivankutty had flagged incidents in which school administrations allegedly cancelled Christmas celebrations under pressure from Hindu right-wing groups linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The Hindu also reported public outrage on social media after videos surfaced showing individuals, reportedly affiliated with Hindu right-wing groups, standing outside a church in Bareilly and reciting religious verses in the presence of police personnel ahead of Christmas.
