Amid widespread protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, a group of youngsters wore Islamic ensemble in solidarity with the protesters during Christmas carol service in St Thomas Mar Thoma Church, Kozhenchery, Kerala.
While the female singers wore hijabs, the men sported skullcaps. The choir’s song was also tuned to the traditional ‘Mappilappattu’ – a song sung by Muslims of North Kerala.
“The song was tuned to Mappilappattu and the singers wore skullcaps and hijab to express solidarity in these times,” Vicar Rev. Varughese Philip was quoted in The Telegraph.
Each year, the church picks a socially relevant theme for its Christmas choir.
“Last year it was about the floods that ravaged our state. This year we chose to take up the controversy over the CAA and the NRC since it affects so many people,” choirmaster Eapen Mathew was quoted in the media.
“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,” read the caption of the video.
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. pic.twitter.com/CQjHb4GULn
— Jijoy (@jijoy_matt) December 25, 2019
The video of the carol service soon went viral on social media after it was shared by a user named Jijoy. The video shared on December 25 has nearly 63k views and was retweeted by many including senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
Ah yes — “you can tell who themy are from their clothes “! https://t.co/BQArDRy2hr
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 25, 2019
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