Christmas celebrated with fervour across Kerala

Kerala celebrated Christmas with great joy and splendour on Wednesday.

Special prayers began in churches across the state on Tuesday evening and concluded with midnight masses.

Cardinal George Koovakkattil led prayers at Lourde Forane Church in Thiruvananthapuram, while Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Major Archbishop of the Malankara Catholic Church, led services at St Mary's Church in Pattom.

In Wayanad district, survivors of the landslide-affected Mundakkai and Chooralmala areas gathered at St Sebastian Church in Chooralmala on Tuesday evening. A special prayer service was held at 7 pm, where attendees remembered their loved ones who had been lost in the disaster.

The day also saw political leaders reaching out to Church leaders to convey Christmas wishes.

Extending Christmas greetings, IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal visited Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of the Kozhikode diocese.

As part of his party's 'Snehayatra' programme, BJP state president K Surendran visited CBCI President Archbishop Andrews Thazhath at the Thrissur Bishop's residence and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Christmas message.

Meanwhile, a Congress delegation led by the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V D Satheesan, visited the people participating in the protest seeking justice in the ongoing land dispute with the Waqf Board in Munambam, Ernakulam district. The Congress leaders spent a few hours with the protesters.

Later, speaking to reporters, Satheesan stated that the Munambam land dispute could be resolved by the government within 10 minutes, but they are unwilling to do so.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)