This 'Imam' needs some education about human to human interactions and being a social person.
There is no need to explain everything in terms of sunnah or religion.
Simple happy human to human interaction should not be considered so bad my dear. Just relax and enjoy the EID or any occasion which has some celebration.
I say, hug each other on any non-religious or religious moment. Off course in sensible ways. It brings people to like each other or know each other better.
Have a smile and a hug.
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This imam is more educated in his field than most if not all people here. I would take his advice on these matters more readily from anybody here. It is a fact that many people do it (or used to) because they think it's a sunnah. Whether or not you want everything explained in terms of sunnah, religion etc. is not the point. I know that I used to do it also under that same impression. The same is the case with many others. Seeing that many people also gave up the practice after the same talk shows that they used to do it under the same impression. So there is nothing wrong with clearing that up among the masses. What I didn't mention in my previous post was that about the hugging, he said that he's not against it, but nobody should do it considering it to be a sunnah.