Jesus was born with questionable identities of citizen-ship, place of origin and even parenthood, points out Father George Pattery, the head of more than 4,000 Jesuits in In-dia, where a recent amendment to the citizenship law has provoked countrywide uproar.

“In fact (Jesus) was born in a makeshift manger while his ‘parents’ were struggling to get themselves registered according to the newly introduced and unquestioned Citizenship Amendment Act of Augustus Caesar,” notes Father George Pattery, provincial of South Asia Jesuits, in a Christmas message on December 20 as the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) entered the fifth day.

Reports of violence continue to trickle in from various parts of the country, despite a government advisory asking private satellite television channels to not air content likely to instigate violence or affect the national integrity. The protests erupted after a police crackdown on demonstrators in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15.