Last updated: December 25, 2022, 7:17 PM IST
VHP) has asked schools in Madhya Pradesh not to ask Sanatan Hindu students to dress up as Santa Claus. (PTI photo / Kunal Patil).
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said, “Children should be made (dressed up as) Ram, Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Govind Singh, great revolutionaries but not Santa.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has asked schools in Madhya Pradesh not to ask “Sanatan Hindu” students to dress up as Santa Claus and bring Christmas trees without their parents’ permission.
A release from the right-wing outfit alleged that some schools were forcing students to dress up as Santa Claus as part of Christmas celebrations. It was an “attack” on Hindu culture and a conspiracy to inspire Hindu children to Christianity, it claimed.
The VHP `Madhya Bharat’ unit also claimed in the release that such directive from schools would entail financial losses for the parents as they would have to buy the Santa Claus clothes.
“Children should be made (dressed up as) Ram, Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Govind Singh, great revolutionaries but not Santa. Bharat is the land of the saints and not of Santa Claus,” the outfit said.
“Therefore, all schools are requested not to dress up Hindu children as Santa Claus without prior parental consent and if a school does so, VHP will take legal action against the school in question,” the statement said.
A letter to this effect was sent to schools in 16 districts in Madhya Pradesh, which are part of 32 organizational districts of the outfit, VHP Madhya Bharat Prant Prachar Pramukh Jitendra Chouhan told PTI.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)