What began as an annual Christmas programme featuring schoolchildren, skits and a science exhibition in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly ended with slogans outside a church and demands for an FIR. 

A student performance, filmed and clipped, was circulated online as evidence of an “anti-Hindu” plot – setting off one of the earliest Christmas-season protests targeting Christians this year. A video that later went viral showed Bajrang Dal workers chanting the Hanuman Chalisa outside the St Alphonsus Church Cathedral as six policemen stood nearby. 

The protestors now claim their demonstration was directed at skits staged during a two-day Christmas programme at Bishop Conrad Senior Secondary School, which is run by the church within its premises. They claim student performances portrayed Hindus in a negative light and misrepresented religious conversion. They say they wanted the police to register an FIR against the church authorities and school management.

Though videos of the skits – some of which were circulated online by Hindutva activists themselves – do not support the claims that they were “anti-Hindu”. Full recordings of the performances, which were originally broadcast live on the school’s official YouTube channel, have been taken down.

Bishop Ignatius D’Souza, a member of the managing committee of Bishop Conrad Senior Secondary School, said there was a copyright issue. “All the performances were being broadcast live on YouTube, but due to copyright issues over video clips related to a series called The Chosen One, based on the life of Jesus Christ, the video was withheld.”

The skits were performed by students at a two-day Christmas event on December 21 and 22. 

The protest and the complaint

A video of the protest, now gone viral, showed Bajrang Dal members chanting verses from the Hanuman Chalisa near the church gate. Bajrang Dal members left the spot after issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to the police and submitting a complaint to Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam alleging that religious sentiments of Hindus were hurt.

Leading the hour-long protest was Kewalanand Gaur, the Mahanagar Sanyojak (District Coordinator) of Bajrang Dal. Speaking to Newslaundry a day after the protest, Gaur claimed there had been no response from the police and that videos of the skits were shared with him by the parents of a student. 

“We just wanted to convey a message to the administration that something wrong has happened here and an FIR should be registered against the church bishop as well as the management.”

In his complaint addressed to Bareilly SP Manush Pareek, Gaur claimed the Christmas event at the church encouraged conversions. He said that in a skit highlighting crimes against women, “the audio refers to rape taking place inside a temple with depiction of other crimes against women also shown as being committed only within the Hindu community”.

“When 90 percent of the students and parents who attended the programme came from Hindu families, then holding such a function by a Christian organisation, which doesn’t portray crimes against women belonging to other religions, and highlights such incidents only among Hindu community, amounts to insulting the majority Hindu samaj (community),” stated the complaint. 

He claimed that one of the skits referred to the rape of a 13-year-old inside the temple. “Are you trying to mislead society,” asked Gaur, who owns a water distribution agency and has been associated with the Bajrang Dal for the last 15 years.

Alum: ‘I saw the complete play’

Among those in attendance at the event were Bareilly District and Sessions Judge Pradeep Kumar Singh, Bareilly Cantonment Board CEO Tanu Jain and Mayor Dr Umesh Gautam. The themes of the plays enacted during the festival included drug abuse, alcoholism and mobile addiction. Among other events were a science exhibition and a skit titled ‘Asha ke teerthyatri’, which talked about the contributions of Mother Teresa, BR Ambedkar, Sundar Lal Bahuguna and so on. 

However, an alum of the school, who didn’t want to be named and was among the attendants, said the local gala has been an annual affair since the late 1980s. “I have seen the complete play. The play’s theme was around girl child and all that she has to face, and in order to establish incidents, clippings of news reports were displayed,” he told Newslaundry.

“The skit of around 30-40 minute duration was actually performed by the students of another school on December 22, so these guys (Hindutva groups) have even got the date wrong.”

The skit and the videos

Two clips of student performances have been shared by Hindutva cadres online.

In one clip that is over 1-minute-long, a groom promises the bride that he will treat her equally, but she later faces domestic violence, and taunts by the mother-in-law. The screen in the background plays out a Hindu wedding ritual and chanting of mantras.

In another 17-second clip, girls enact a dance drama against a screen flashing news reports about sexual violence against women. From the shutdown of a school in Bhopal in April after the rape of a three-year-old, to the rape of a five-year-old reportedly inside a temple in Agra in May, and the rape of an eight-year-old in Bhopal. 

Among those who shared the clips on Facebook was VHP Mahanagar President Ashu Agarwal. “In one of the clips shown that day, it was portrayed that an ailing elderly whose children are living abroad, he is taken care of by a Christian nurse. She tells him to embrace Christianity. When some Hindutva people protest against conversion, the old man explains to them after which they apologise,” Agarwal told Newslaundry. 

Bishop Ignatius D’Souza clarified that it was a play based on the life of Mother Teresa, where a rich man with leprosy got cured and donated his wealth. “Our intention was to show that charity should be done by everyone.”  He insisted there were no references to religious conversion in any of the performances. He also claimed the protests were “pre-planned” since the protesters were accompanied by “some news channels”.

When asked about claims by the Hindutva groups about conversion, Agrawal, however, told this reporter, “There were three clips all portraying Hindus in a certain way...If among an audience of 2,000 people a screen of approximately 30x20 inch is put up, suggesting that there are problems related to Hinduism, the indirect message is that you should convert to Christianity.”

Asked if it was a case of generic themes around domestic violence and crimes against women being misinterpreted by Hindutva groups, Agarwal refused to comment.

Calls to Bareilly SP Manush Pareek and Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam remained unanswered. 

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