Opinion Why Santa Claus vs conservatism is no contest
Christmas is a cultural festival that transcends religious faith. And who doesn't like a present?
For the former, Santa – like St Valentine – is largely an American creation in its current avatar, promoted to sell things and undermine “values”. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra) 
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Three days after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members allegedly threatened teachers at a school in Palakkad in Kerala because they objected to Santa Claus, two millennials in Noida made a curious connection. “I went to a missionary school in Ranchi,” the first one remarked, “so Santa Claus and Christmas were always a big deal”. “I went to a conservative – almost Hindutva — school in Delhi, and Santa was pretty important to us too.”
It is easy to see how the ubiquity of the jolly giver of gifts fuels the paranoia of what was once the far-right fringe in Indian politics. Like Valentine’s Day – another bugbear for majoritarian activists – Santa Claus represents the tendency of the Indian Subcontinent to make its own the various cultural and religious strands that are woven together in a complex whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, even beyond Santa Claus, Christmas is a cultural festival that transcends religious faith per se. A cursory glance at Park Street, in all its festive glory, in Kolkata or even the joy outside malls across India as children and parents enjoy fairs andmelas is evidence of this fact. Easier still is the “Yeshu di balle balle” craze that’s overtaking social media.
This hybridisation of culture, religion and consumerism annoys conservatives, both Left and Right. For the former, Santa – like St Valentine – is largely an American creation in its current avatar, promoted to sell things and undermine “values”. After all, the apocryphal story goes that the reason most Santa Clauses are dressed in red and white is at least in some part because of a Coca Cola ad campaign in the 1930s that had him dressed in brand colours. The objection to Mr Claus in Langfang in China in 2018 and a “Santa-like figure” in the Soviet Union in 1922 was that he was a vehicle to spread religion. This is similar, ironically, to the objections of the VHP and its ideological parivaar.
The objections to Santa Claus and Christmas, then, go back a while. In India over the last decade, the voices that have objected to Christmas because its Christian have held power – arguably hegemonically. Yet, Santa has not only survived, he has thrived. Why?
In a country of divisions and segregations, every festival that levels the playing field is both transgressive and has universal appeal. Valentine’s Day became an unstoppable force post-liberalisation not just to sell greeting cards – though, sell greeting cards it did. It was a way for young, middle and lower-middle class Indians to articulate romantic love at a time and in a place where agency around love and sex was both rare and transgressive. That spirit has been monetised, cynically – but it is progressive nonetheless. Christmas and Santa are similar. They allow people to be part of a global consumer community, to go out on a winter afternoon and celebrate without the burdens of identity that many Indians – especially of the majority community – are trapped in.
And most of all, who doesn’t like a present?
aakash.joshi@expressindia.com
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