CAA: Kerala church choir sing in skull caps, headscarves in protest

Kerala: India is reeling from a string of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens across the nation, but while some agitation takes a violent turn, others are peaceful and inspiring. In Kerala, for instance, to show their solidarity with people of from the Muslim community and against the contentious developments, Christmas carolers chose to wear skull caps and headscarves during their performances.

Shashi Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, re-tweeted a post showcasing the grand turnout at a service in Marthoma Church, Kozhenchery, Kerala.

In the original post, the twitter user jijoy_mjatt wrote: “This is India, no one can stop the unity of our religions. Please see how these youngsters appeared in their X'mas carol service in solidarity with Indian Muslims and protest against CAA&NRC.”

Indian Express quoted the church’s assistant parish priest Daniel T Philip as saying: “We wanted to pledge solidarity with all communities, including Muslims, who are worried about the new citizenship law. As we are celebrating Christmas, there is a grave concern among minorities, particularly among Muslims, whether they would become refugees in this country. We wanted to share their concern and express solidarity with them.”

“Jesus Christ was made a refugee a day after his birth. Hence, the church wanted to send the message that it shares the anxiety of people who are made refugees or are fearing they would be dubbed refugees,” he was quoted as saying.