A Right-wing Hindu revivalist organisation has warned Christian missionary schools in northern India that they celebrate Christmas at "their own risk" as it claimed Hindu children were being "lured" to Christianity.

In a letter to several Christian-run schools in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 110 miles southeast of the capital New Delhi, the Hindu Jagran Manch stated that Christmas is "essentially a ploy to lure and convert Hindu children”.

Sonu Savita, the local head of the organisation, which is loosely affiliated with prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, said that the warning against celebrating Christmas was not directed against Christians, but at a Christian festival being foisted upon Hindu children in their schools.

“No school has a majority of Christian students. So why do these schools where Hindus are in a majority celebrate Christmas?” he asked.

Mr Savita also said that these schools were asking Hindu schoolchildren to bring toys and presents to celebrate Christmas which he declared was the "easy way to lure them to Christianity".