Opinion | On Christmas And 'Tulsi Diwas' - And, Manufactured Traditions

In the landscape of modern Indian socio-politics, if there is such a word, December 25 has become a date of peculiar botanical urgency. Suddenly, the air is thick with the smell of incense and the aggressive rustle of holy basil. We are told, via high-resolution WhatsApp forwards and saffron-tinted infographics, that it is "Tulsi Pujan Diwas". To the uninitiated, it looks like a quaint revival of Vedic piety. To anyone with a history book and a functioning memory, however, it is a masterclass in the "invention of tradition" - a duplicitous branding exercise designed to turn a plant of peace into a picket line of cultural intolerance.

Let us be clear: the Tulsi plant is, and has always been, a cornerstone of the Hindu household. For centuries, it has sat in the Vrindavan of the courtyard, a biological deity representing Lakshmi's grace and the medicinal wisdom of Ayurveda. We have Tulsi Vivah, an ancient, structurally complex festival tied to the lunar cycle of the Hindu calendar. But "Tulsi Pujan Diwas", fixed stubbornly to the Gregorian calendar date of December 25 (a most unVedic practice), is not an ancient ritual. It is a 2014 startup. It has the same historical depth as a seasonal discount sale.

Colonising The Calendar

The manufacture of this "Diwas" is a classic example of what historian Eric Hobsbawm called "Invented Tradition". These are practices that appear old but are actually quite new, designed to instil certain values through repetition and a false sense of continuity with a "glorious past". By pinning Tulsi worship to Christmas Day, the architects of this movement aren't trying to honour the plant or our culture; they are trying to colonise the calendar.

The logic is transparently reactive. It stems from a profound cultural insecurity that views the celebration of Christmas - or even the mere acknowledgment of it - as a zero-sum game. If a neighbour puts up a star, one must counter with a shrub. If they sing a carol, we must chant a shloka, not out of devotion, but out of a desperate need to "reclaim" a space that was never actually lost. It is "spirituality" as a contact sport, kabbadi with chanting rather than panting.

The duplicity lies in the justification. Proponents argue that they are protecting "Indian values" from the "onslaught of Westernisation". This creates a false binary: you are either a "Sattvic" Tulsi-worshipper or a "corrupted" consumer of cake and tinsel. By framing a modern creation as an ancient necessity, they provide a theological shield for contemporary xenophobia. It allows the practitioner to say, "I am not being intolerant of your holiday; I am simply being observant of my own (one-decade-old) tradition."

A Trojan Horse For Intolerance

This is how "manufactured tradition" serves as a Trojan Horse for intolerance. It rewrites history to suggest that Indian culture is a fragile thing that can only survive if it is constantly positioned against an imagined enemy. It replaces the expansive, pluralistic heart of Hinduism - which historically had no trouble assimilating various influences - with a brittle, reactionary mimicry.

Furthermore, there is a profound irony in using the Tulsi plant for this purpose. In the Puranas, Tulsi is a symbol of bhakti (devotion), a quality that is internal, quiet, and deeply personal. To turn her into a tool for a "Cultural Cold War" is a form of spiritual malpractice. When worship is motivated by the desire to "cancel out" another person's joy, it ceases to be prayer and becomes a political weapon of intolerance.

We see this pattern everywhere: the sudden "discovery" of ancient reasons to do modern, exclusionary things. Whether it is the rebranding of Valentine's Day as "Parents' Worship Day" (why not Kamadeva Diwas, I ask you?) or the fixating of festivals onto specific Western holidays, the goal is the same: to create a psychological ghetto where the "Other" is always an intruder.

Let Tulsi Be Sacred

By pretending that "Tulsi Pujan Diwas" has always existed in this specific, reactionary form, its promoters are gaslighting the public. They are erasing the genuine, organic history of Indian festivals, which are diverse, regional, and tied to the earth's own rhythms, and replacing them with a standardised, "Vedic-flavoured" version of modern "cultural nationalism".

If we want to worship the Tulsi, let us do it with the quiet dignity our grandparents did, because the plant is sacred, not because the date is a "threat." To use a holy plant as a weapon of spite is not just historically illiterate; it is a betrayal of the very culture it claims to protect. True tradition doesn't need to check the Western Gregorian calendar to know when to be pious, and it certainly doesn't need to manufacture a "Diwas" to feel superior to its Christian neighbour. In the end, a tradition built on "anti-ness" is no tradition at all - it's just a grudge with a garland on it.

(Shashi Tharoor has been a Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is an author and a former diplomat.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author