CAA Row: Church Choir Sings Carols Wearing Hijabs and Skullcaps in Kerala

Guwahati, December 28, 2019:

As the agitation against the amendment of the Citizenship Act continues across India, a choir at a Church in Kerala, in Hijabs and Skullcaps, enthralled the audience with Christmas carols.

A video of Christmas celebrations at St Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Kozhencherry in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district has gone viral on social media. It shows the group of fifteen youngsters performing traditional songs sung by the Muslim community, which is also a form of traditional carols.

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The singers who wore hijabs and skullcaps sang a song tuned to the traditional Mappilappattu, literally meaning Muslim song, written in local dialect. The song is said to be popular across the state, especially the northern districts.

Choirmaster Eapen Mathew said that it was a way of expressing solidarity with the Muslim brothers and sisters. It may be mentioned here that the new legislation i.e. the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is viewed as discriminatory against the Muslims as it offers citizenship to non-Muslims hailing from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some have even termed the CAA as a way of cleansing the Muslims from the country and turning it into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

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The video has surfaced at a time when tensions over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has gripped the nation. Jijoy, a Twitter user, shared the video and captioned, “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. This was part of their Christmas carol service in Marthoma Church, Kozhenchery, Kerala.”

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also shared the video on his official Twitter handle, “Ah yes — “you can tell who themy (they) are from their clothes!”

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