Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated Calcutta’s biggest public Christmas festival on Monday and said a “typical type of religious hatred” is brewing across India, threatening “secularism” and “the Constitution” of the country.

“We love our Constitution. It is our pillar. But can you tell me whether this Constitution is being thoroughly nurtured, accepted? And in real sense, is secularism in India (being nurtured)? No. I am sorry to say, it is a typical type of religious hatred, policies going on,” Mamata said at the opening of the 10th edition of the Christmas festival at Allen Park on Park Street.

Her comments came a day after Union home minister Amit Shah ended his two-day tour of Bengal and said the process of framing Citizenship (Amendment) Act rules -- part of a citizenship matrix that many communities have said is divisive — would start once vaccination for Covid-19 begins.

“I want to condemn this (politics of hatred) today because this is a place where I can raise my voice," Mamata said. She stressed that the Christmas festival “stands for unity, stands for peace, stands for solidarity, stands for love and everything”.

She underscored that this spirit of unity and solidarity stemmed from participation of people irrespective of their religion in the festivities.

“This is the only place in our country where we celebrate festivals like this. It is like Puja... Just like this we celebrate our Id, our Christian festival and all the festivals. Because we are one, we are together. Unity is our strength and divided we fall, that’s why we pray for unity,” said Mamata.

At last year’s programme, too, the chief minister had referred to religious hatred and spoken about ways to combat it. She had referred to the Centre’s move to do away with the seats reserved for the Anglo-Indian community in Parliament and wondered whether it was possible to exclude one community by scrapping seats.

At Monday’s programme, seated on the dais with Mamata were Reverend Thomas D’Souza, the archbishop of Calcutta, and Reverend Paritosh Canning, the bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India.

Sanat Kr Sinha

In the audience were people from all walks of life and from all communities.

From Allen Park, the chief minister went to St Xavier’s College to inaugurate the Pre-Christmas Programme. There, too, she stressed the need for peace and unity. “Christmas brings unity, peace, happiness to love each and every person…. It unites the world family,” Mamata said at the college.

Father Dominic Savio, the principal of the college, spoke of how the joy of Christmas encompassed everybody, going beyond the confines of the religious border. “Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year with so much joy all around. Not just for Christians, but all for various reasons,” the principal said.

“Today more than ever, Jesus needs to be born in our life and in our world. Our world is darkened by human selfishness, pride and sin,” he said.

Also present on the occasion was Father Felix Raj, the vice-chancellor of St Xavier’s University.

Reflecting on the spirit of the Christmas festival, Father Felix Raj told Metro: “In Bengal, Christmas is now going beyond caste and religion…. Everyone participates in the Christmas festival.”

Referring to the chief minister’s message for maintaining unity, he said: “We must stand up to religious hatred to protect our secularism and the Constitution.”

The chief minister praised St Xavier’s College and said it was one of the best institutions in the world. “I want to see St Xavier’s College as the number one,” she said.

Festive glow

St Xavier’s College decked out for the inauguration of pre-Christmas celebrations on Monday Sanat Kr Sinha

An illuminated Park Street on Monday Sanat Kr Sinha