A senior priest of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Kerala on Tuesday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence at the Christmas celebrations hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in New Delhi as a “drama”, pointing to the alleged destruction of Christmas cribs in Palakkad by VHP activists.

Yuhanon Meletius, metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church’s Thrissur diocese, unleashed his tirade against Modi in a post on Facebook for “honouring” the Christmas crib in New Delhi at a time a crib in Palakkad was demolished.

“Over there, bishops are honoured, and cribs are revered, Here, cribs are destroyed. There must be a term in Malayalam for such behaviour, right?" Meletius wrote in his post.

Later, talking to a TV channel the bishop termed Modi’s visit to the CBCI headquarters as “drama”.

Meletius was alluding to the alleged disruption of Christmas celebrations at a school by Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists and the destruction of a symbolic crib created by children at another school by unidentified people in Palakkad district.

Following widespread protests, VHP Palakkad district secretary K. Anil Kumar, joint secretary V. Sushasanan and panchayat president K. Velayudhan were arrested and remanded in custody.