National Commission for Minorities full report on Orissa violence

Report on the visit of the Vice Chairperson, NCM to Orissa - 11th to 13th September 2008

Following the outbreak of communal violence in Orissa after the assassination of Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) decided to depute a team to the State to study the situation at first hand. Accordingly, I visited Orissa from 11th to 13th September, 2008, covering in the course of my visit, the blocks of Tikabali, Udaigiri, Raikia etc. I also called on both the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Orissa and the Governor of Orissa to share my experiences with them. Finally, I had in depth discussions with a team of officials from the Government of Orissa headed by the Chief Secretary and including the Director General of Police, Home Secretary and others.

In the first nine months of the year 2008, this is the third team from the NCM that has visited Orissa following the outbreak of communal violence in that state. The situation on the ground as I saw it holds out little hope that this will be the last. Orissa has been traumatized by vicious attacks on the Christian community which, in some pockets, continue even today. They are subjected to repeated threats that they will never be safe if they do not convert immediately to Hinduism. Earlier in December, 2007 and January, 2008, the violence was confined to Kandhamal District. On this occasion there were incidents of violence in other districts like Gajapati, Ganjam and even Bargarh. I had the opportunity to interact with three Catholic priests who were badly injured in the riots and had been shifted to a Mumbai hospital for treatment. The testimony of one of them who worked in Bargah district is attached as an annexure “A” to this report. As in the past, the brunt was borne by Kandhamal district in general and the blocks of Tikabali, Udaigiri, Raikia and K Nuagam in particular.

On the night of 23rd August, 2008, Swami Laxamananda Saraswati was brutally assassinated in his ashram at Jalespata. The very next afternoon, his body was taken in procession to Chakapad, the place where his first ashram was established. It is reported that at a place called K Nuagam, a large crowd obstructed the procession and insisted that it be diverted to places where his followers were waiting to pay homage to the slain leader. In contravention of the earlier agreement regarding the route the procession was to take, it was now diverted to cover the blocks of Udaigiri and Raigarh. This was an invitation to the mob to take over and soon mindless violence was unleashed. The Christian community fell innocent victims to wide spread acts of arson and destruction. The State Government estimates that 17 people were killed while 2,853 houses and 127 institutions were either destroyed or damaged. Unofficial estimates say that the actual figures are much higher. Since Government estimates are based on confirmed figures alone, the unofficial estimates are probably closer to the truth.

In the immediate aftermath of the violence, Christians across the district fled for their lives and took refuge in the forests nearby. Fear of attacks from Hindus in the area made it impossible for them to return to their homes. To cope with this the State Government has so far opened 14 relief camps in the 6 most affected areas of the district and approximately 20,000 people are estimated to be staying in these camps.

On my arrival in Phulbani, I visited camps in Tikamballi and its surrounding areas. I then proceeded to Udaygiri where a very large camp is located in a school in the area. The following day, after interacting with members of civil society at Phulbani I visited the huge camp at Raikia. Throughout the journey I was able to visit houses and places of worship that had been destroyed and observe the viciousness with which even everyday items like motorcycles, auto-rickshaws and tractors belonging to the Christian community had been reduced to ashes.

There can be no doubt that the entire Christian community has been completely traumatized. Retired officers from the armed forces, retired civil servants who had served the Orissa Government in senior positions and others who met me had exactly the same story to tell: they had been attacked, their homes destroyed and their family members threatened with every sort of retaliation if they did not forthwith change their religion and embrace Hinduism.

As a start, the Government must bring back a sense of normalcy and ensure that Christians are able to pursue their everyday lives without living under constant fear and threat in relief camps. The Government must also strain every nerve to see that those who murdered Swami Laxmananda Sarswari must immediately be brought to book. If outside help in the conduct of investigation is necessary it should be taken but the crime must be solved and those guilty made to pay.

Along with this the steps taken by the State Government to maintain law and order following the crime must be put under the spotlight. It was obvious that public reaction to the murder of a prominent religious leader like the Swamiji would be extreme. Yet when options to be followed after the murder were being considered, there is little evidence that high level political and official leadership offered guidance and support to the local district administration. Given the near certainty that a procession of over 170 kms with the body of the slain leader was bound to arouse huge passions it would have been proper for the senior leadership of the State to try to persuade the Swami’s followers to avoid a long procession and bury him in the ashram where he was murdered. Even if his followers had been adamant that he had to be buried at the site of his first ashram in Chakpad, the alternative of airlifting the body should have been examined.

It is certainly possible that if the procession had been banned or even delayed there might have been serious trouble at Jalaspeta. This might possibly have spread to other places as well. But a reasoned analysis of the pros and cons does not appear to have taken place. Less than 18 hours after the murder, the funeral procession was taken out and the state still reels under the events that followed it. There is little evidence that anyone at the senior levels of either the political or the official establishment participated in or attempted to influence the decision making process in such a vital matter. This is unfortunate because mature advice could have introduced a measure of sanity into the situation and resulted in a balanced, considered response.

In every camp I visited the main feeling was one of despair and hopelessness at the cruel turn of events. Practically everyone complained of the threats they had received that their return to their homes was predicated on their acceptance of the Hindu religion. I was even shown a letter addressed by name to one woman stating that the only way she could return to her home and property again was if she returned to the village as Hindu. (A copy of the letter, written in Oriya, complete with the picture of a blood stained dagger is attached with this report – Annexure “B”).

Some groups did complain that large scale conversion was at the root of the disturbances and that the Swamiji’s murder was only the trigger that set off the seething unrest that was already brewing in Kandhamal. While exact figures of the number converted are hard to come by, there is no doubt that the Christian population has registered a larger increase than that of the Hindu population. But although the Freedom of Religion Act has been in existence for about 40 years, not a single case has been registered under this Act for forced conversion in Kandhamal. If indeed conversions by force or fraud were responsible for the feelings against Christians, it is absolutely amazing that the provisions of an Act designed precisely to address such conversions have never been invoked. It gives rise to the suspicion that conversion had really very little to do with the problem.

Indeed the matter goes deeper than this. I was informed that only 2 applications for permission to convert have been received in the last 10 years in the district but I could not ascertain what action had been taken on those plications. They are probably still pending. This only underlines the fact that not much was expected of the legislation and it was treated more as a political instrument than a means to bring transparency into the conversion process. In fact further probing revealed that rules under the Act were framed only in 1999, more than 30 years after the Act was passed. This underlines, as few other things could, how legislation is sometimes passed in haste not to address a particular problem but to mollify different groups. The State Government must examine this issue in some depth. Merely keeping an Act on the statute book without implementing it or using it for the purpose for which it was intended does not help.

Since the Act is now on the statute book, however, its provisions must be used against the pernicious threats to Christians to convert forcibly to Hinduism or lose all their property and their right to return to their homes. In camp after camp I was bombarded with complaints of such threats and the fear they inspired. The provisions of an Act that seeks to outlaw and punish conversions made by force and fraud must now be used to achieve that purpose, viz. to take action against those who seek to convert others to Hinduism by using threats and force.

During my last visit to Orissa in April 2008, I was told that 127 cases had been registered and 187 people had been arrested. On checking I found that only 14 of these had been charge sheeted, 5 cases closed and about 108 cases were still pending. On this occasion 203 cases have been regi stered against 223 people who have been arrested. It is impossible to over emphasize the importance of quick investigation and early filing of charge sheets in court. If the impression gains ground that those indulging in rioting, arson and murder will get away with little more than a slap on the wrist in the form of arrest and early release on bail and that investigation will invariably be tardy, it will be an invitation to people to take the law into their own hands. For this purpose the State must depute special investigators to Kandhmal district for as long as it takes them to complete the investigation into all the cases registered in the district. It will be quite impossible for the local administration to cope with this huge task without any outside assistance and if it is not done speedily, it will, as I have pointed out above, be seen as the weakness and ineptitude of the administration.

One particularly heart rending experience in relief camps was the problem faced by those who lost their loved ones to violence but were unable to recover their bodies because these had been burnt or had been destroyed by wild animals. Without the recovery of the body and a post mortem being performed on it, compensation promised to the next of kin of those killed in the riots is not given. The trauma faced by such persons can well be imagined. Not only have they lost their loved one (usually the breadwinner) but insult is added to injury when relief promised to them is denied for reasons beyond their control. While Government procedures do call for the recovery of the body and for the performance of a post mortem, a more flexible approach is needed in times like this. Perhaps Government can rely on the testimony of eye witnesses to the murder and even take an indemnity bond from anyone receiving compensation in respect of a person whose body has not been found. But human suffering on such a massive scale should not be compounded by insistence on bureaucratic procedures. Since compensation for the next of kin of those killed in such riots is also offered by the Central Government, both the sums received should be pooled and invested in some security that will give a good return to the individual.

All the camps that I saw had medical teams in position and I was informed that they were manned by personnel drawn from different parts of the State. I was also informed that some NGOs had offered their services to conduct medical operations. Such offers should be freely accepted even if they come from the so called Christian NGOs. Since inmates of the camps are all from the same religion there is little prospect of controversy arising out of a discriminatory approach to medical services. In the same way there should be no objection to allowing Christian groups to distribute relief in the camps. Since only Christians are housed in the camp there can be no allegations of a sectarian approach to the distribution of relief.

Once peace and normalcy are restored, the emphasis must go to rehabilitation. The State’s record on this front last time was satisfactory but if the same level of efficiency is to be maintained some more manpower would be needed. There is a strong case for deputing extra officers to work in Kandhamal district for rehabilitation on the same lines as extra officers from the police department assist in the work of investigation. The details should be worked out by the State Government and the district authorities in Kandhamal.

In my last report I had covered the need for confidence building measures to build bridges between estranged communities. This is a vital tool in the quest to maintain lasting and durable peace between neighbours. Mohalla Committees have worked wonders in bringing people together in places like Mumbai. But the initiative must be taken when there is peace and people are receptive to such ideas. It is doubtful if the State Government acted on this recommendation in the past. I believe that it is vitally important for them to do so when things settle down in Kandhamal.

Although Orissa has a sizeable minority population it is surprising that it does not have a Minority Commission. Such a Commission will not guarantee that no riot will ever take place but it does provide a useful feedback to Government and, more importantly, a place where people who feel marginalized can let off steam. This recommendation also has been made in the past but has yet to be acted upon.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The agony of Christians in Orissa continues unabated even today in selected pockets of Kandhamal. Full normalcy is yet to be restored and reports of arson, attacks on houses and places of worship and harassment of Christians still come in. Indeed reports that have come in after my return from Orissa show that far from improving things have actually got worse and trouble is spreading to districts which were so far quite peaceful. The communal divide appears to be as strong as before and there has been little success in reining in the extreme fringe that has encouraged and fostered the spread of intolerance.

Christians are still forced to live in an atmosphere of extreme insecurity under threat that if they do not convert to Hinduism their lives would not be safe and their properties would be forfeited. The community has suffered immense damage to their property, their places of worship and above all to their psyche in this macabre drama that has played out twice in the space of less than a year. This reflects very poorly on a secular multi ethnic country like India with a proud tradition of not merely tolerating diverse cultures and beliefs within the body politic but actively encouraging their growth and development. Unless steps are taken immediately to restore normalcy and instill a measure of confidence and security among Christians, we will not only irreparably damage the pluralistic society of which Orissa is so rightly proud but we leave the door open for lumpen, extremist elements to occupy space that should rightly be occupied by the state and civil society groups. The implications of this for a sensitively located state like Orissa are frightening. Steps must be taken immediately to identify those responsible for promoting hatred and the poison of communal unrest. They must not be allowed to roam freely around the area to spread their pernicious doctrines as they now do. If the state is unable to do this the Central Government must consider their own response.

Recommendations.

1. Strong steps to restore full normalcy must be taken immediately and a sense of confidence should be built up among Christians. This should be done in a variety of ways but most especially by seeing that firm action is taken against the instigators of violence who spread communal hatred. If the state is unable to do this the Centre should consider an appropriate response in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution
2. The political leadership should consider holding a peace march in the most affected areas along with religious leaders of both sides. The top cadres of the state leadership should also re-examine their response to incidents like the murder of Swami Laxamananda Sarswati and ensure that they play a more effective role in influencing important decisions..
3. The provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act must be invoked against those using force to convert Christians to Hinduism.
4. Investigations into cases filed must be completed under a time bound programme and charge sheets filed in the court. If the number of cases is sufficiently large, establishment of special court(s) could be considered.
5. Extra manpower at a sufficiently senior level must be deputed to Kandhamal to assist in investigation of cases and in rehabilitation measures. It will be impossible for the district administration to cope with this task by relying only on their limited resources.
6. Christian medical relief teams should be allowed to work in the affected areas. Similarly, Christian groups should be allowed to distribute relief materials in the camps, if necessary, in partnership with the Red Cross.
7. In special cases where the dead body of a victim of the riots cannot be traced for good and sufficient reasons, ex gratia compensation must be given to the heirs of the victim after getting an indemnity bond from them if necessary.
8. Compensation from the Centre and the State must be pooled together and invested in a good security that can bring in a rate of return of about 10 percent.
9. Once peace is restored, confidence building measures between the two communities must be put in place. These can include street plays, poetry competitions dramas and mohalla committees.
10. Orissa must constitute a Minority Commission as soon as possible.
11. Compensation must be given by the Government for reconstructing all religious places destroyed or damaged both in the recent riots and those which took place earlier. Since the rationale for this recommendation has been covered in detail in my last report of April 2008 it will not be repeated here. In fact the last three recommendations have been made in previous reports but because they have not yet been implemented they are reiterated here.

I, The Convert

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Illustration by Sorit

OPINION

I, The Convert

My conversion was not a change of religion; it was a change of heart

Anand Mahadevan

I was born a Brahmin and am the grandson of a priest whom I dearly loved. I am educated and my current professional standing indicates that I am reasonably intelligent. I am also affluent and my income would put me distinctly in the upper middle class bracket. I guess that would make me high-caste, rich and smart. In other words, I am not a tribal, or poor or dim-witted. And yet, I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

The world would call me a convert to Christianity. I have no problems with that, though I see my faith more as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ than as a religion. And for the record, I can truthfully claim that no one financially induced or threatened or deceived me into converting to Christianity.

I am fiercely proud of my national identity as an Indian and I am completely at peace with my cultural identity as a Hindu. I retain the name my parents gave me. My wife, who also shares my faith, continues to go by her Hindu name. We have two children and we have given both distinctly Hindu names. In fact, many of my colleagues and acquaintances who may happen to read this column are likely to be surprised. They have no inkling about my faith, for I generally don't go about announcing it. But if someone does ask me the reason behind the joy and hope that is everpresent in my life, I am always delighted to share it with them.

I write this piece to make one point—that my conversion was not a change of religion but a change of heart. To explain this, I need to go back to my childhood in Chennai, similar to that of so many other Tamil Brahmin boys like me. My grandfather, every bit the virtuous priest, had enormous influence over me. I absolutely adored him and as a toddler, always clung to him. He too loved me to a fault. There was no wish of mine that he would not rush to fulfil. But even in my early, formative years I was unable to relate to the religion he fervently practiced. Later, in my school days, I once spent my summer holidays with him in Trichy. Memories of dawn walks with him, for the ritualistic dip in the Cauvery river, cow in tow, are still fresh in my memory. I learnt many shlokas, some of which I still remember. But I never understood any of it and none of it helped me connect with God.

When I was 19, a Christian friend with whom I used to play cricket invited me to his house for prayer. If he had invited me to a pub, or party, I would have gone too. At his home, he and his sister prayed for me. It was a simple yet delightful conversation with God that lasted all of five minutes. I don't remember it verbatim, but they articulated a prayer of blessing on my life, future, career and family. It was a simple affair—no miracles, no angels visiting. All they did was utter a deep human cry out to the creator God and His only son Jesus Christ. When they said Amen, I felt in my heart a desire to follow Jesus.

It was a faith encounter with God that I shall not even attempt to understand, rationalise or explain. I simply accept it. It is my faith. It is what I choose to believe. That evening I did not change my religion, for in reality I had none. Hinduism was my identity, not my religion. It still is.

The Christianity I acquired that evening is not a religion. On the contrary, it is an intensely intimate relationship with Jesus. Over the past fifteen years, I have come to know this Jesus even closer. I know Him as the pure and sinless Son of a Holy God. And I know Him as a dear friend to whom I pray and talk to every day—about my career, my dreams, successes, failures, finances and even my sexuality.

If I read a good book, watch a good movie (Rock On is terrific, mate), or eat a good meal at a new restaurant, I would naturally tell my friends about it.In Jesus, I have discovered a truly amazing friend, guide, leader, saviour and God. How can I not tell all my friends about Him? And if anyone does listen and he too comes to believe in Jesus, I am delighted. The world would call it a conversion; I call it a change of heart, like mine.

But I would never force anyone to listen to me, leave alone financially induce, coerce or con him into believing. That to me is pointless and against the very grain of my faith. But I do have a constitutional right to practice my faith and to preach it without deception, force or bribery. It pains to see such basic rights of mankind being cruelly violated every day in this great Hindu nation.

God bless India.

---

(Anand Mahadevan is the editor of Outlook Business.)

How to donate?

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Donation in Cash

Our aim is to provide immediate help to the people on ground in the affected areas.
For a typical family of 4 to 5 members the required support would be:

Food: Rs. 50/- per week.
This is for the extra food. Lunch and dinner is provided at the relief camps. Since the food provided is just rice and potatoes and also many time insufficient and unhygienic. This amount will help family to cook some nutritious food like boiled egg and milk.

Cloths: Rs. 500/- (one time)
With this amount people can buy cloths like blankets, towels, lundis, Inner garments etc.

Donation in Kind

We have started to collect cloths (Used or New) for the people in the less affected areas since accessibility to Kandamal which is highly affected area is not there. We are partnering with few organizations in distributing cloths.

You can donate any of the below in usable condition:

1. Sarees
2. Pants
3. Shirts
4. Lungi (Only new)
5. Children Clothing
6. Bedsheets
7. Towels (Only new)

Please contact us we will let you know the collection points.

Kindly drop in a short mail to us we will mail you back with the details on how you can donate. You can either donate by cheque, cash or bank transfer

Our mail id is: support.orissa@gmail.com

For any clarifications and information please feel free to mail us.

May God bless your efforts

Orissa victim Fr. Bernard Digal passes away

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By Team Mangalorean

Chennai/Mumbai October 28, 2008: Fr. Bernard Digal, one of the victims of Orissa carnage who was beaten up mercilessly by the Hindu fundamentalists on August 25, lost his battle for life and succumbed to the injuries today October 28, 2008.

Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar Raphael Cheenath SVD in a communiqu with Mangalorean.com said that Fr. Digal had been to Chennai to visit the Vicar General of the Archdiocese who had undergone a bypass surgery. While in Chennai Fr. Digal again developed health complications due to the internal injuries that he had received, and was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital in Chennai where he was operated by the doctors to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath SVD rushed to Chennai to be at his side when he learnt that Fr. Digal's condition further deteriorated. Fr. Bernard who was kept on respirator slipped into coma as both his lungs collapsed and he passed away on the night of Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 9:25pm(local time).

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath who administered the Sacrament of anointing of the Sick, mourning the death of Fr. Digal said that, "The Church in Orissa is blessed with a Martyr for the suffering and persecuted Church. May he now enjoy the Crown of glory from His Lord and Master, he said adding "Let us continue to show our solidarity and our spiritual closeness to our people in Orissa."

According to the Archbishop, Fr. Digal's body will be flown to Archbishop's house in Bhuvaneshwar today October 29, 2008. Fr. Digal was a native of Tiangia, Raikia (Khandamal district) and he had mentioned in his will that he would be laid to rest in his native place after his death. "If the situation permits, we will fulfill his wish and he will be laid to rest according to his will," Archbishop told mangalorean.com.

Fr Digal was brutally beaten up on August 25 and was left in the forest half naked and bleeding the entire night. He was later admitted to the Holy Spirit Hospital in Mumbai.

"The Christians in the district of Kandhamal have a powerful intercessor in heaven, Fr. Bernard will now continue his work for our people from his heavenly home," he said.

Kandhamal Violence Photos 6

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Bajrang Dal planned Orissa violence: CPM

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NEW DELHI: The issue of anti-Christian violence in Orissa and Karnataka echoed in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Left and other parties accused the BJD-BJP
and BJP governments, respectively, of inaction against offshoots of the RSS that were alleged to be behind the attacks. ' In a heated discussion between Left parties and BJP-BJD MPs, which forced a 90-minute adjournment of the House, CPM member Basudeb Acharia accused the police and administration in the two states of remaining “mute spectators” even as Christians were butchered. This was enough to get BJP and BJD MPs on their feet who described the recent violence as ethnic strife borne out of rivalry between Pana and Khand tribes. Initiating the discussion on attacks on Christians and their institutions in Orissa and Karnataka, Mr Acharia equated the violence to the 2002 Gujarat riots saying, “Christians have been butchered” in the two states. Alleging that the report card was “grim” with over 50 Christians killed on burnt alive and a nun raped in Orissa, Mr Acharia said that all this was despite the fact that the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati — the alleged trigger for the anti-Christian attacks by Hindu outfits — was an act of the Maoists. “But within an hour of the killing on August 23, Bajrang Dal and VHP organised themselves with guns and swords, attacked Christians and burnt their houses,” the CPM leader alleged. Describing the attacks as planned, Mr Acharia charged the state police and administration of remaining a “silent spectator” to the mindless violence. “The Hindutva goons were given a free hand and all police forces were withdrawn,” he alleged. He dismissed suggestions that the violence had to do with forced conversions stating that tribals had their own religion which is animistic. In Karnataka, Mr Acharia pointed out, the president of Bajrang Dal had himself stated that he had destroyed several churches. “Despite that the state government has not done anything,” he said suggesting that the Hindu forces wanted to “convert Karnataka into a Hindutva laboratory.” Mr Acharia also took the Centre to task for not ‘doing enough’ to correct the situation in Orissa and Karnataka. This, he said, was obvious when nothing came out of the recent meeting of the National Integration Council. Coming forward to defend the response of the Orissa government to the attacks in Kandhamal, BJP MP Kharabela Swain recalled that over 1,000 people had already been arrested. Mr Swain also recalled that the nun who had pressed rape charges had refused to come forward to identify the culprits. (See adjacent report). In any case, he argued that the violence was essentially on account of rivalry between the Pana and Khand tribes. To buttress his claim, Mr Swain quoted from Union home minister Shivraj Patil’s recent statement that the strife in Orissa was not a communal one but rather an ethnic one. This was objected to by Mr Patil, who intervened immediately saying that “please don’t put words into my mouth.” Stating that the government could do little to resolve the ethnic conflict, Mr Swain assured the House that the “BJP is not against Christians...we respect them as they are very sophisticated and learned.” Participating in the debate, Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar put the entire blame for the Orissa situation on the ruling BJD’s alliance with the BJP. “BJD is saying conversions are responsible for the violence in the state. But conversions cannot be made an excuse for mass murder, mass arson and mass displacement.” He pointed out that the state government had allowed VHP leader Praveen Togadia to visit the trouble-torn regions to spread “more hatred” but did not allow minister of state for home.

Kandhamal produces some of world's best turmeric

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Phulbani (Orissa) (IANS): Not many know that Kandhamal district, where anti-Christian violence has reared its ugly head in the last two months, produces some of the world's best organically grown turmeric.

What's more, turmeric production is likely to increase this year due to favourable climatic conditions even as its growers are still hiding in the forests for fear of being arrested for the violence.

More than 50 percent of the over 600,000 people in the forested hill district, some 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar in this eastern Indian state, depend on turmeric cultivation and they do so by preserving the purity of the soil and their produce.

Last year the district produced about 9,000 tonnes of turmeric. This year we hope the produce will be more than 10,000 tonnes, Pramod Patnaik, secretary of the Kandhamal Apex Spice Association for Marketing (KASAM), told IANS.

KASAM is a state-run society that represents traditionally spice-growing indigenous organic farmers in the region involving 61 groups comprising 12,000 members.

Turmeric cultivation starts in May-June and harvesting is done between December and February, Patnaik said.

The produce is known as Kandhamal turmeric and it has the best international certification of organic quality. The turmeric business in the district is worth Rs.300 million.

The cultivators are mostly tribal who have been producing turmeric for generations. But many of them have been hiding in the forests lately for fear of arrests ever since anti-Christian attacks erupted in the region.

The violence began after the murder of Hindu saint Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides in the district Aug 23.

While police blamed Maoists for the crime, Hindus blamed Christians for it and attacked them and their property. At least 36 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless.

The situation is returning to normal. People who are hiding in the forest will return soon. I don't think the violence will effect turmeric production. We hope for a better harvest this year, district collector Krishan Kumar told IANS.

This year the rain and climate was conducive. When the violence in the district broke the turmeric cultivation was already complete.

Organic farmers by tradition, turmeric cultivators in Kandhamal have never used synthetic chemical inputs. By adopting modern methods of organic farming they have made their fertile soil the source of the purest, best quality organic spices.
Orissa contributes about 21 percent of India's turmeric cultivation in terms of area and Kandhamal makes up for over 50 percent of the state's share.

SC declines plea for CBI inquiry into alleged rape of nun

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New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court today declined to hand over to CBI the investigation into the alleged rape of a nun during the on-going communal violence in Orissa.
"At this stage we do not think that handing over the investigation into the case from the state police to the CBI is in the interest of the victim as well as in the interest of justice. We think that the victim will cooperate with the state police," a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said.

The Bench noted that the victim has left the area and was refusing to participate in the Test Identification Parade (TIP), though nine persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged rape.

On the issue of compensation for damage caused to churches during the communal riots, the Bench asked the Orissa Government to assess the damage and assist in re-building them.

The apex Court said that proceedings in cases arising out of the violence will have to be conducted by setting up fast track courts.

Further, the Bench said that the central para-military forces provided to the state government for maintaining law and order in riot-hit area will remain there till December-end in view of the upcoming festival of Christmas.

The Archbishop of Cuttack had in a petition sought Rs three crore compensation for demolition of Churches in the anti-Christian riots, while seeking a CBI inquiry into attacks on Christians.

He alleged that Orissa government was not taking steps to arrest the culprits who allegedly raped and paraded the nun naked on August 25. PTI

Kandhamal Girja Punarnirmana daitya Sarkar Nebe: Pradhanmantri

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Christians of Orissa appeal to UN as stateless citizens

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by Nirmala Carvalho
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The government of Orissa is closing the refugee camps and driving out thousands of Christians, without food or shelter. In the meantime, the violence continues, denounced as a genocide to the United Nations, which is being asked for immediate intervention.
Fr. Manoj Digal of the archdiocesan social service center tells AsiaNews, ”One of the three relief camps in Baliguda was shut down on Oct 15th, and 900 people sent away. It is ridiculous, these people have nowhere to go, they are defenseless, moreover they have been given just 10 kg of rice per family. How will they live? The government has not even given them tents, where will our people stay? They have lost everything, they are reduced to nothing, moreover, the looming fear of reconversion to Hinduism, if they return to their villages they can only stay as Hindus. The government has not ensured any security for these Christians. There is a grave risk and threat to their lives terror still haunting them, moreover, now radical women’s groups who are terrorising the Christian women. Our people are destitute.”

Sajan K, George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has petitioned the United Nations over the decision by the government of Orissa to close the refugee camps in the district of Kandhamal. Sajan writes to the UN that "The New York Times on 3rd September 2008 reported that 1,400 homes and 80 churches had been destroyed or damaged. The actual figures in Orissa, are more than double. Hundreds have been killed for belonging to the faith and large-scale gross human rights abuse is taking place - rape, brutal injury, police atrocities, torching of churches & property belonging to Christians, their institutions and clergy. 
Even the official figures of lives lost or crores of rupees worth property vandalized in the ensuing carnage, has shocked civil society in India and abroad. Tens of thousands are rendered homeless, living in the forests or in government relief camps, where inhuman living conditions, devoid of basic food and medicine, cause many deaths. The Christian community seems to have lost all faith in the government to protect the life and property of its citizens, especially when it comes to the minority Christians, who constitute a meager 2.5% of the country's population."

"The states where this is happening, especially Orissa," he continues, "are ruled by the opposition right-wing BJP and allies, and this being an election year, the government is reluctant to act, as it is not seen to be politically expedient. It's been months since the Christmas eve massacre in Orissa and the community has ever since, been knocking at all doors - the president and prime minister of India downwards - but to no avail. As of today, the attacks continue with a renewed vigour of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Orissa and spreading to at least eight other states of India. The onslaught would have claimed more lives, if only the media and human rights activists had not played a significant restraining role, by highlighting the brutality of the Hindu extremists, backed by an inactive government, which if not abets the communal violence, certainly turns a Nelson's eye to it. There are all indications of a worse holocaust to follow the communal carnage, which we fear cannot be prevented by the government. Christian NGOs and the Church are not allowed to even fend for their own and care for the hurt and dying."
"These Orissa Christians and others to follow," he concludes, "express the desire to be termed Prima Facie Refugees and urge you, through the UNHCR to deem them so, in order that they can be covered by a legal framework to protect their human dignity from rights violations and abuse. Currently, they along with tens of thousands, are a stateless people, as the writ of the government of India does not run large in the state of Orissa." "Tens of thousands such as these will either be killed by the Hindu extremists or will die of injury and malnourishment, if no attention is paid immediately. Many of these are old, women, children, babies, clergy. who are the most vulnerable sections. We appeal to you on humanitarian grounds, not take a strictly legalistic view, as precious lives are being lost by every day, even as blood is split by the hour." "We also appeal to the UN and its world agencies, to exercise its power and influence, to protect lives and prevent further killings in India or discrimination on the basis of race, religion or caste.”
Meanwhile, the violence is spreading through the entire country. On October 14, two churches were attacked in Erode, in Tamil Nadu: unknown assailants threw stones, at night, breaking windows and furniture.

There are still seeds of hope amid the disaster. Sister M. Suma, regional superior of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, fled from the order's house in Sukananda, district of Kandhamal, burned down on September 30 by Hindu extremists. She tells AsiaNews that she is being allowed to stay for a couple of days in the refugee camp in Raikia, where she says "I hope I can share with them the love of Mother Teresa. Keep the joy of loving God in your heart."

Scores of Christians convert to Hinduism in Kandhamal

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Phulbani (Orissa) (IANS): Scores of Christians have converted to Hinduism in Orissa's troubled Kandhamal district in the past weeks to save their lives and properties, a government official admitted on Friday.
"We have received over 50 complaints where people alleged that Hindu villagers are forcing them to convert to Hinduism if want to save their lives and properties," a senior district administration official told IANS.
"Over 30 people have informed us in writing that they changed their religion to Hinduism on their own and without any force," he said, adding that all the complaints were being investigated and action would be taken as per law.
However, Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that the number of people who converted to Hinduism forcibly would be more than 600.
"The villagers tonsured my head and forced me to drink cow dung water," a victim claimed in a relief camp in this town, the district headquarters of the volatile Kandhamal district that has borne the brunt of the communal violence following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides on Aug 23 at his Jalespata Ashram.
Hindus in the region blamed Christians for the killing and went on a rampage against the community.
At least 36 people, mostly Christians, were killed and thousands of homes burnt in the district during the violence. Over 20,000 people, mainly Christians, have taken shelter in relief camps after their houses were torched by rampaging Hindu mobs.
Although there has been no violence since past over two weeks, tension continues in the region over religious conversions.
While night curfew is in force in nine towns in Kandhamal, prohibitory orders banning any gathering of four and more people are in force across the district.

Hindu fundamentals are under attack

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28 Sep 2008, 0121 hrs IST, Shashi Tharoor
There are basically two kinds of politics in our country: the politics of division and the politics of unity. The former is by far the more popular, as politicians seek to slice and dice the electorate into ever-smaller configurations of caste, language and religion, the better to appeal to such particularist identities in the quest for votes. But what has happened in recent weeks in Orissa, and then in parts of Karnataka, and that threatens to be unleashed again in tribal districts of Gujarat, is a new low in our political life. The attacks on Christian families, the vandalism of their places of worship, the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and the horrific rapes, mutilations and burning alive that have been reported, have nothing to do with religious beliefs - neither those of the victims nor of their attackers. They are instead part of a contemptible political project whose closest equivalent can in fact be found in the "Indian Mujahideen" bomb blasts in Delhi, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad, which were set to go off in hospitals, marketplaces and playgrounds. Both actions are anti-national; both aim to divide the country by polarising people along their religious identities; and both hope to profit politically from such polarisation.

We must not let either set of terrorists prevail.

The murderous mobs of Orissa sought to kill Christians and destroy their homes and places of worship, both to terrorise the people and to send the message 'you do not belong here'. What have we come to that a land that has been a haven of tolerance for religious minorities throughout its history should have sunk so low? India's is a civilisation that, over millennia, has offered refuge and, more important, religious and cultural freedom, to Jews, Parsis, Muslims and several varieties of Christians. Christianity arrived on Indian soil with St Thomas the Apostle ('Doubting Thomas'), who came to the Kerala coast some time before 52 AD and was welcomed on shore by a flute-playing Jewish girl. He made many converts, so there are Indians today whose ancestors were Christian well before any European discovered Christianity (and before the forebears of many of today's Hindu chauvinists were even conscious of themselves as Hindus). The India where the wail of the muezzin routinely blends with the chant of mantras at the temple, and where the tinkling of church bells accompanies the gurudwara's reading of verses from the Guru Granth Sahib, is an India of which we can all be proud. But there is also the India that pulled down the Babri Masjid, that conducted the pogrom in Gujarat and that now unleashes its hatred on the 2% of our population who are Christians.

As a believing Hindu, I am ashamed of what is being done by people claiming to be acting in the name of my faith. I have always prided myself on belonging to a religion of astonishing breadth and range of belief; a religion that acknowledges all ways of worshipping God as equally valid - indeed, the only major religion in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. Hindu fundamentalism is a contradiction in terms, since Hinduism is a religion without fundamentals; there is no such thing as a Hindu heresy. How dare a bunch of goondas shrink the soaring majesty of the Vedas and the Upanishads to the petty bigotry of their brand of identity politics? Why should any Hindu allow them to diminish Hinduism to the raucous self-glorification of the football hooligan, to take a religion of awe-inspiring tolerance and reduce it to a chauvinist rampage?

Hinduism, with its openness, its respect for variety, its acceptance of all other faiths, is one religion which has always been able to assert itself without threatening others. But this is not the Hindutva spewed in hate-filled diatribes by communal politicians. It is, instead, the Hinduism of Swami Vivekananda, who, at Chicago's World Parliament of Religions in 1893, articulated best the liberal humanism that lies at the heart of his (and my) creed. Vivekananda asserted that Hinduism stood for "both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true." He quoted a hymn: "As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee." Vivekananda's vision - summarised in the credo Sarva Dharma Sambhava - is, in fact, the kind of Hinduism practised by the vast majority of Hindus, whose instinctive acceptance of other faiths and forms of worship has long been the vital hallmark of Indianness.

Vivekananda made no distinction between the actions of Hindus as a people (the grant of asylum, for instance) and their actions as a religious community (tolerance of other faiths): for him, the distinction was irrelevant because Hinduism was as much a civilisation as a set of religious beliefs. "The Hindus have their faults," Vivekananda added, but "they are always for punishing their own bodies, and never for cutting the throats of their neighbours. If the Hindu fanatic burns himself on the pyre, he never lights the fire of Inquisition."

It is sad that this assertion of Vivekananda's is being contradicted in the streets by those who claim to be reviving his faith in his name. "The Hindu militant," Amartya Sen has observed, presents India as "a country of unquestioning idolaters, delirious fanatics, belligerent devotees, and religious murderers." To discriminate against another, to attack another, to kill another, to destroy another's place of worship, is not part of the Hindu dharma so magnificently preached by Vivekananda. Why are the voices of Hindu religious leaders not being raised in defence of these fundamentals of Hinduism?

Open letter to the Prime Minister

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By eminent Prof Chitta

Kandhamal Violence in - NDTV We the people

Have the attacks on Christians destroyed India's image?

NDTV We the People

Kandhamal: The March Of Hindutva In Tribal Orissa

Archana Prasad

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The Christians will be wiped out from Kandhamal. (A pledge taken by those present in the VHP Shhradhanjali Sabha of Laxmanananda Saraswati, Chakapad, Phulbani, September 6, 2008.)

“You are just burning tyres. How many Isai houses and churches have you burnt? Without kranti (revolution) there can be no shanti (peace). Narendra Modi has done kranti in Gujarat, thats the reason why shanti’s there.” (Laxmanananda Saraswati, quoted in Tehelka January 19, 2008).

“Attack on Swamiji is the same as attacking Hindu Religion. All saints and sadhus need to counter attack unitedly otherwise India will be converted into a Christian nation”. (Apurvananda Maharaj at VHP Shhradhanjali Sabha, September 6, 2008)

THE Hindutva project in Kandhamal, Orissa, began in 1969 with the arrival of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati who established his ashram in Chakapad, Kandhamal district. The death of Saraswati on August 23, 2008 and its aftermath has only exposed the extent and expansion of Hindu right wing penetration. By 2003 the Sangh Parivar operated through at least 35 different organisations including political, ideological, service and charitable educational and health institutions. The RSS runs 2,273 shakhas in Orissa, with a membership of 100,000 while the VHP has a base of 60,000 in the state. The Bajrang Dal has 20,000 members who serve in 200 akharas and the Durga Vahini has 7000 members working in close coordination with RSS, and VHP cadres (Rupen Bannerjee, ‘Spread of Saffron’ India Today January 27, 2003). This explains the aggressiveness with which the Sangh Parivar has responded to the slaying of Laxmanananda Saraswati, the main organiser and key functionary of the VHP in the state for the last 36 years.

CASTE, CLASS AND UNDER-DEVELOPMENT

The growth of the Hindutva project has been influenced by the under-development of the region which has compelled tribal and dalit families to depend on voluntary social welfare measures for their survival. Till the early 1970s when the first Ashram was set up at Chakapad by Laxmananada Saraswati, the Christian missionaries constituted one of the most influential forces that organised the pano scheduled caste (forming approximately 16.6 per cent in 2001) and the Kui and Kandh scheduled tribes (54.7 per cent as in census 2001). Since many of the converts belonged to the socially oppressed dalit communities, Saraswati largely concentrated on building a Hindu consciousness amongst the Kui and Kandha who formed a majority of the population.

Most of the dalits and tribals are marginal farmers and rural workers who also depend on the sale of forest produce as their supplementary income. Kandhamal, is a natural resource exporting region: tamarind, ginger, sal resin, sal seeds and Kandhamal turmeric being the most important produce. The collectors of this produce get one-third to one-fourth of the minimum support price offered by the government. As in the case of other tribal areas, there are at least four layers of traders between the government depot and the collectors. A majority of the big traders are outsiders (from Gajapati or Ganjam districts) who form the middle and upper castes that have traditionally supported the Hindutva agenda. But many of the petty traders are the Pano, an important SC group, a few of whom have come into the ownership of tribal lands. The economic empowerment of a strata of the Pano is attributed to their rejection of brahmanical Hinduism and conversion into Christianity many decades ago (Pralay Kanungo, ‘Hindutva’s fury against Christians in Orissa’ EPW September 13, 2008). The limited state infrastructure and the consequent Kui, Kandh and Pano dependence on non-governmental social welfare measures have resulted in the aggravation of social and economic contradictions. This has framed the Sangh Parivar’s intervention and also made a communal project look like an ethnic strife. In this conflict the Kui Samaj Samanavaya Samiti, an apex organisation of Kandh’s and Kui tribals, appears to have emerged as one of the main allies of the Sangh Parivar.

COMMUNALISING TRIBAL IDENTITY, CHOREOGRAPHING ETHNIC STRIFE

The current conflict between Christian dalits and the Kui and Kandh Hinduised tribals began with the Christian Pano demanding ST status. They argued that they too speak the Kui language and should be thus given the same status as Kui and Kandhs. But Kui Samaj opposed this and received full support from Saraswati. Inspired by this support the Samaj called for a bandh on Christmas day resulting in the riots of December 2007. The demand of the Pano assumes importance because Orissa VHP secretary, Gauri Prasad Rath stated that the parivar organisations would ensure that those who converted to Christianity would not get the benefits of any reservation and would loose both their SC and ST status.

The perception that Kui and Kandh Christians are not tribals has been internalised by the leaders of the Kui and Kandh communities. The Kui Samaj and its leader Lambodar Kanhar has supported and agitated for the VHP demand even though he denies the links of the organisation with the RSS. The anti-Christian feeling amongst the ST leadership is more than palpable. As Kanhar states: “How can we get along with Christians? It’s like cat and mouse. We don’t like the ways of even those who are Christians among the Kandhas. We keep them apart from places of worship.” (Tehelka, January 19, 2008). This segregation of the Christian dalit and tribals from those who have been converted to Hinduism under the ‘ghar vapasi” or reconversion campaign started in the late 1980s. But the Hindu influence on the articulation of the tribal identity began much earlier. Sangh organisations, under the leadership of Laxmananda Saraswati, presented Jagannath as part of the indigenous tribal tradition, and held dharma yatras and yagnas to socialise the tribals into Hindu rituals and culture (Pralay Kanungo, ‘Hindu Entry into a Hindu Province’, EPW, 2001).

In 2000 the victory of the BJD-BJP alliance covertly supported this process and emboldened the Sangh activists. Christians claimed that the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act was used selectively to implicate them in false offences (Rise of Fascism: Victims of Communal Violence Speak, March 2008, Anhad, Delhi, pp. 227-229). By the end of the alliance government’s first tenure, the VHP had successfully managed to mobilise the tribals into a mainstream Hindu agenda by building a tribal Hindu consciousness. In October 2005 Laxmananda Saraswati reportedly said: “How will we make India a completely Hindu country? The feeling of Hindutva should come within the hearts and minds of all the people.” In April 2006, celebrating RSS architect Golwalkar's centenary, Saraswati conducted seven yagnas, and mobilised more than 30,000 tribals for the Hindutva cause. In September 2007, led by Saraswati, many Kui and Kandh tribals participated in the VHP’s statewide road-rail blockade on the ‘Ram Setu’ issue (Angana Chatterji, ‘Hindutvas Violent History’ Tehelka September 13, 2008).

It is therefore not surprising that the VHP secretary Rath proudly claims that in the last 40 years the organisation had brought atleast 50,000 tribals back into the Hindu society. It follows from this that the parivar organisations were converting about 1000 tribals a year into Hinduism. In contrast, Church reports 200-300 annual conversions under the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, proving the charge of forcible conversions wrong. Another exaggerated claim by the Sangh Parivar is that the number of churches in Kandhamal has increased to over 921, while church sources put this number at just over 500. The creation of an image of the crusading foreign funded Christian has been crucial to expansion of Hindutva project and the building of a communal consciousness in tribal people. This also forms the basis of the anti-Christian violence and polarisation that has surfaced in the decade following Naveen Patnaik’s rule.

FORCING HINDU-CHRISTIAN SEGREGATION

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) describes the current genocide in the area as an ‘attempt to annihilate the Christians’. They estimate the damage in the following way: 96 churches, 14 residential and training centres and 4009 houses of Christians have been destroyed; 22,236 people are in relief camps and more than 40,000 people have displaced into forests. But more than this, the alarming aspect of this report is the use of the September attacks to hasten the process of Hindutva expansion.

As the CBCI report states “The Christian dalit and tribals are forced to convert to Hinduism under threat. The fundamental group announces a date fixed for conversion in a selected village. Those Christian members belonging to the houses of that village are told to inform their family people to return from the relief camps or anywhere on that date. They will be asked to convert to Hinduism. They are asked to sign a document that it is done freely. If they do not accept, they are tortured and killed. If they become Hindus, they pay a fine of 1000 to 1500 rupees.” Further, if the Christians stay away “Hindu neighbours are told that the houses, the lands belong to the Hindus. All their belongings are looted, burnt and destroyed.” (Report of the CBCI Fact Finding Mission in Spirit Daily) Clearly the politics of communal Hindu transformation promoted by Laxmanananda Saraswati has reached its crescendo and requires the purging of all Christians from Kandhamal.

The making and articulation of the Hindu tribal identity has overtaken all other contradictions in Kandhamal. The ruling BJD-BJP combine calls this communal divide as an “ethnic conflict with religious overtones”. This is clearly not true because the communalisation of the tribal consciousness has been a planned project since the early 1970s which in turn has structured the ethnic conflict. Thus this conflict is a communal polarisation with an ethnic dimension. Therefore the primary task is to de-communalise the tribal identity and reduce an ethnic divide through social, political and developmental action.

Guilty ‘gone’, all are victims

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[+uc('Padmacharan Digal surveys his charred home in Kandhamal. Sankarshan Thakur ')+]

Phulbani (Kandhamal), Oct. 10: This is as perplexing a scene of crime as it is horrid; everybody wants to be a victim, even those palpably guilty. The Hindus have their slain patriarch, Laxmanananda Saraswati, his body interred in a shallow samadhi, his memory now a gory murder poster flaming on public walls across the district. The Christians have their dead and ravaged — 40 killed, one raped, three molested, scores of homes and churches burnt, thousands scarred and displaced. An exorbitant price for one dead man, and nobody has even established they got Laxmanananda. But then, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the majority-minority calculus at play — it’s a diabolical trick that turns on inverse proportions, the fewer you are the more you pay, numbers will designate some gods greater and others lesser. In Kandhamal, for all his fear-mongering over the predatory sweep of Jesus, Laxmanananda was by far the child of the greater god: census figures reliably tell you Shiva leads Christ 80-20, and the latter team has just been retired from the game, grievously hurt. Padmanabha Digal, teacher of Sanskrit at Laxmanananda’s Chakpada Ashram, up a craggy hill road winding into the remoteness beyond Phulbani, tells us that the Christians had to take the beating they’ve got. “As a lesson,” he says with professorial persuasiveness, “just as a lesson, you cannot kill such a big man and go unpunished.” A few yards from where he speaks, behind the ashram’s vast pillared prayer hall, lies Laxmanananda, six feet under in padmasana after the fashion of saints, a blue PVC canopy fluttering atop his final abode. “By this act they have justified all that Swamiji used to say about them, he would warn every time he spoke.” To Digal and the ashram, Laxmanananda has become cold proof of his own dire prophecy; his progeny must now confront it in good measure. Digal is as sanguine about the eruption of mayhem after Laxmanananda’s killing on the night of August 23 as he is convinced of the culprits. “These Christians, who else? I don’t buy these Maoist claims, they had nothing against him, the Christians did, he was barricading their expansion.” It’s almost as if Digal is armed with proof Laxmanananda died of being bored by a cross, not by gunshots. “Ask anyone,” he wages on, “everybody knows who did it. They will also tell you why the violence happened. It was natural, spontaneous, it may not have been right but it was necessary, people took out their anger.” He wasn’t part of that enactment of anger, though, just like nobody else in Kandhamal was. Everywhere you go trailing fire in the hills and hamlets of Kandhamal, you’ll find it or the remains of its depredations. You’ll never find the man who lit it. Everywhere it’s down to the spontaneous ire of an anonymous horde that arrived from somewhere and vanished into nowhere. Who knows who did that, is what you get told for the effrontery of asking, it wasn’t me. Across the hills from Chakpada, across stormy rivulets and pristine forests that are now blossoming over with checkposts and jawans, is Beheragam where the fiction of the anonymity and spontaneity of violence lies nailed to the crucifix of reason. It has begun to rain and the wooded hills have turned voluptuously green under its ministration, like sprouts of gigantic broccoli. From a distance Beheragam looks a splendoured patch blessed with nature’s bounties; up close it is streaked with the curse of human ugliness — rows upon rows of houses ransacked and burnt, bereft lanes that the horror-stricken have escaped, a mattress flung in the wake of panicked departure, a mangled birdcage, crushed bangles and half-eaten corn-cobs in the ashes on the floor, a kaleidoscope of devouring madness arrived and gone. The Christian homes of Beheragam, a mostly mud-and-thatch settlement, were burnt on the night of September 26, more than a month after Laxmanananda’s murder; spontaneity and anger took their time traversing the hills. The Christian homes of Beheragam were singled out for torching. They’ve been knocked out and others left untouched like Dr Horror had gone about marking bad teeth from good ones before taking them out. Dr Horror couldn’t have been part of an anonymous storm arrived from elsewhere; he had to belong here to know which ones to pick and which not. But of course, says our second Digal of the day — this time a man called Padmacharan, a Digal on the other side of the fence from Padmanabha Digal of the Chakpada ashram, a Christian. But of course he knows Dr Horror. “There were many from here, from among us, but how are we to prove it? The only proof is that not a single Christian home stands and all the others are untouched.” One of the burnt homes is his; he has slipped quietly out of the relief camp 20km away to survey the damage. “Quieter now, and we did not get a chance to see how bad it was, I was hoping there would be something left, but there are just the walls now and even they have been licked through by the fire.” Wasn’t he afraid, though, of returning, isn’t the danger still there? Padmacharan Digal affords himself a wry smile. “No, not now, later maybe but not now.” He motions to the untouched homes of Beheragam and says, “Can’t you see there is nobody around? They collaborated, now they are afraid. They have all run away, the one with homes have all run away, leaving behind the homeless. They claim they are afraid, of what you must ask them.” This is a perplexing scene of crime; everyone’s a victim and the guilty are nowhere.

World War II fighter’s life shattered

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BHUBANESWAR: The sight of a frail but fair frame with distinctly non-local features accommodated at a small corner of the YMCA-run camp for Kandhamal refugees here immediately catches the attention. The name Joginder Singh also rings a bell.As you sit with the man and spend some moments by his side, you realise who you have hit upon. Amid the overpowering atmosphere of despondency in the camp is a man who still believes peace and harmony will return to the land which took him in as its own about 50 years back.The 88-year-old has undergone so much in life —— from miraculously escaping an air crash (he was a fighter pilot with Royal Air Force during World War II) to losing parents and family to the bloody Partition riots in Amritsar to making way to Orissa, starting family and settling down in Kalingia under G Udaygiri till being uprooted again by the recent communal outburst in the region.‘All these years, the Hindus and the Christians had been living in perfect harmony. The bond of co-existence had been so strong and I do pray that the severance is temporary and would be restored soon,’ he says struggling to fight back tears welling up in his tired eyes.Born Sikh to Dr Ganga Singh, a civil surgeon in Madras Presidency during the colonised era, Joginder’s convent education had generated an inclination for the religion within him. He was selected to RAF at the age of 19. He converted and took part in anti-German operations followed by the action against Japanese advance from Burma (now Myanmar) between 1939 and 1945. It was during a strike when his Spitfire fighter craft was shot down about 10 km away from Mingaladon airport in Burma. His co-pilot died.He was recuperating in hospital when Partition was announced and suddenly the news of his family’s annihilation came. The soldier in him could only enable him to internalise the tragedy and move on. He was then posted in the Exploratory Tubewell Organisation (now Central Groundwater Board) and sent to Orissa on deputation to develop Lift Irrigation systems. He was absorbed into Orissa Government Service and retired as Mechanical Engineer (drilling) in 1975.In Kalingia, he met Taravati Nayak and married her and settled down. His son Pradeep (30) is a lecturer with Christian College under Gospel for Asia at Brajarajnagar.The couple has been at the camp for about 20 days now. ‘Everything has changed suddenly. The fire of communal backlash after Swami Lakshmanananda’s death has blackened the beautiful land, both within and outside. Best of friends are deadliest of foes. I and my wife were asked to reconvert by the very people who did not have any objections one and a half months back and forced to leave,’ he lamented.‘But this phase will definitely pass. More assertive action on the part of the Government and interaction between communities can make it happen. I just want to go back,’ he says.

NCM delegation to visit Orissa to assess relief work

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New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) With no let up in communal violence in the BJD-BJP ruled Orissa, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) today announced a visit to the trouble-torn state to assess the relief and rehabilitation work being done there.
This will be the fourth team of the Commission to visit Orissa in the last ten months.

"The Commission is sending a two-member delegation comprising of the NCM Vice Chairman Michael P Pinto and member Harcharan Singh Josh to Orissa next week to assess the relief and rehabilitation work being done by the state government," NCM Chairman Md Shafi Qureshi told PTI today.

"The Commission is more interested in seeing that the rehabilitation and resettlement of the violence affected Christian minority members is carried out properly. Most of the victims are still living in forests minus any medical facility and proper shelter," Qureshi said.

"The state government has made a relief package. But we don't know what is being done. Hence the visit is proposed," he added.

The Commission also plans to carry out a public hearing in violence-hit areas of the state next month.

"We will be going for a public hearing there as the situation warrants it. We are deeply concerned with violence continuing in the state. Incidents of fresh violence are being reported now from districts other than Kandhamal in Orissa, which warrant serious attention," NCM Vice Chairman Michael P Pinto told PTI.

Earlier a four member team of NCM led by its Chairman Md Shafi Qureshi yesterday briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding its findings on Orissa violence. PTI

Raped in Orissa, nun recalls nightmare

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We killed Swami, Maoists say again

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BHUBANESWAR: Orissa's top ranking Maoist Sabyasachi Panda has once again claimed that the red brigade killed Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples at his Jalespeta ashram on August 23. Panda's statement came in form of an interview telecast by a TV channel on Sunday.

The interview showed Panda speaking from an undisclosed forest area, his head covered with a towel, face back to the camera and two men donning military fatigue standing by his side with assault rifles in their hands.

Panda defended his action and threatened more such murders. "Laxmanananda was not fighting for Hindus. He was heading the VHP and implementing an agenda targeted against the minorities," he said. "No one speaks for minorities. They are exploited. The riot, after the murder of Laxmanananda, was a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar. Even without his killing, they would've caused riots to impose their agenda on the people," he said.
"The riots have nothing to do with the conflict between the Panas and Kandh tribals," he said.

Bajrang Dal national co-convener Subhash Chouhan rubbished Panda's claims, describing it as an attempt to divert public attention from the core issue. "We don't believe the Maoists killed Swami Laxmanananda, who, in his lifetime, never said a word against them. Except spreading education among the poor and telling them about the rich tradition of India and the threat from conversions, he did nothing for which Maoists should have targeted him. Religion is the consideration behind his killing which has outraged the masses, their political affiliation or reservation against us notwithstanding," he said.

Orissa DGP Manmohan Praharaj disapproved of media's focus on Panda. "When the situation in Kandhmal is returning to normal, such coverage by the media are bound to add fuel to fire. The Maoists are trying to queer the pitch for their own interest," he said.

Nun rape case

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Rape of nun confirmed

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Prafulla Das and Parvathi Menon

Medical examination done at Baliguda government hospital

BHUBANESWAR: A medical examination conducted on the 28-year-old Catholic nun, who was sexually assaulted at K. Nuagaon in Kandhamal district on August 25, has confirmed she was raped.

“The medical examination report suggests that the nun was raped,” District Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar told The Hindu over phone from Phulbani on Thursday.

The nun, along with a Catholic priest, was publicly beaten up by a mob and she was raped in a nearby building when anti-Christian violence was at its peak in Kandhamal in the wake of the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda on August 23.

The medical examination was done at the Sub-Divisional government hospital at Baliguda.

The rape case, registered under 376 and other Sections of the IPC, is being investigated under the supervision of a Deputy Superintendent of Police. Senior police officials are also monitoring the progress of the investigation, Mr. Kumar said.

The Kandhamal police are also making efforts to contact the nun, who left the district along with the priest, Father Thomas Chellan, after filing her complaint with the Baliguda police.

No one has been arrested in the rape case so far. “The Baliguda police are trying to ascertain the identity of the accused persons,” Mr. Kumar said.

In her complaint, the nun said she was ill-treated by a group of 30 to 40 persons and one from among them raped her. “We are trying our best to solve the case,” he said.

Sister Nirmala, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, who is here, on being informed of the result of the medical examination, told The Hindu: “I am satisfied that they have established this and hope the investigation will proceed.”

Amnesty: stop anti-Christian violence

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Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Amnesty International has urged the Indian Government to “match its words with action” and ensure that violence against Christians in Orissa stops.

In a statement here on Thursday, it said that despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that what was happening in Orissa was a “national shame” and that his Government had taken firm action to halt it, Christians in the state continued to face attacks.

“The last two days have witnessed renewed attacks by supporters of Hindu nationalist organizations, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, against the Christian minorities and their places of worship in Kandhamal district in Orissa, leaving three people dead, more than 15 people injured, including some policemen, and hundreds homeless,” it said adding that Amnesty volunteers had spoken to people who confirmed that an atmosphere of insecurity prevailed.

Amnesty also called for adequate security for relief camps and an impartial inquiry into the attacks.

London rally will urge end to Orissa violence

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by Ed Beavan

Visible: a cross in the foreground during a protest against attacks on Christians in Southern India, on Friday PA

A RALLY calling for an end to the current wave of anti-Christian vio­lence in the Indian state of Orissa will take place in London tomorrow. About 50 Christians have been killed, and an estimated 50,000 forced to flee their homes in the north-eastern state as attacks on Christians have escalated across the country after the murder of a Hindu leader, Lakh­mananda Saraswati, in Orissa on 23 August (News, 29 August). Hindu extremists blamed Chris­tians for the murder, and then followed a spate of revenge attacks on Christian homes and churches. The violence has spread to other regions in India (News, 5 September). Ashok Masih Mattu, chairman of Indian Christian Concern, based in the UK, one of the groups organ­ising tomorrow’s rally, said that violence against Christians has in­creased since the murder of the Australian missionary Graham Staines in Orissa in 1999. “It’s a very, very sad situation, and I’ve never seen anything like it before. The Indian government has said it’s doing everything in its power to stop it, but the killing is still going on.” Last week, Hindu mobs burned down the house of the Roman Catholic Missionaries of Charity in the village of Sukananda in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. The house was empty at the time, as the Sisters had already fled. In response, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, signed a statement on behalf of the group calling for “stronger and stringent action . . . against all kinds of anti-social and anti-religious elements that violate human rights and terrorise innocent people”. Christian Solidarity Worldwide this week urged the EU-India summit to make representations to the Indian government to “take decisive action” against the violence. Tomorrow’s march will be attended by the MPs John McDonald (Hayes and Harlington) and Virendra Shar­ma (Ealing and Southall) and repres­ent­atives of British Hindu groups. The demonstration will start at Richmond Terrace, by Victoria Em­bankment, at 2 p.m., and will deliver petitions to 10 Downing Street, and the Indian High Commission in Aldwych.

48 nabbed, curfew relaxed in Kandhamal

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BHUBANESWAR/PHULBANI: Police launched a massive crackdown on the trouble-makers in Kandhamal by arresting 48 persons, including some Sangh Parivar activists. Meanwhile, additional para-military force was rushed to the riot-hit district where the police have adopted a tough posture against the Sangh Parivar activists after the new Director-General of Police (DGP) took charge. Curfew was relaxed from 8 am to 5 pm in all the nine police station areas. Official sources said that 10 more companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) arrived in Kandhamal in phases for deployment in sensitive areas. With this, as many as 46 companies of para-military force are engaged in fighting violence. DGP Manmohan Praharaj, who is camping in Kandhamal, took stock of the situation at a meeting and visited G Udaygiri and Raikia, which witnessed violence recently. Praharaj told mediapersons that persons irrespective of their religion will be booked if found involved or instigating violence. With the arrest of 48 persons since Tuesday, the total number of arrests in Kandhamal district has gone up to 337. After the direction from the administration regarding the surrender of guns and licences, till today, only 95 persons out of 505 from nine police station limits have deposited their guns and licences. Meanwhile, members of the District Bar Association, Phulbani, have given a seven-point charter demands to the district administration which included non-clamping of curfew in Phulbani town, shifting of relief camps which were functioning in various educational institutions of the district, arrest of the culprits involved in the killing of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and his associates, restoration of communication to the interior areas of the district and non-arrest of innocent people. Meanwhile, BJP, a partner of the ruling coalition, strongly opposed the arrest of some of its workers and functionaries on charges of rioting and arson. Among the arrested was BJP’s Kandhamal district unit general secretary Bhagaban Mohanty. BJP is likely to take up the matter with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

Scheduled Caste panel to visit riot-hit Kandhamal

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Taking a serious note of the attacks on Dalit and tribal Christians in Orissa, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has decided to a send a team to Kandhamal area of the state to assess the situation.

The NCSC team, which will be headed by its Chairman Buta Singh, will examine cases of atrocities against Dalit Christians and also assess the steps taken by the state government to safeguard life and property of the minorities.

The Commission had earlier sought a detailed report from the state's Chief Secretary on the communal violence there after the killing of VHP leader Luxmananda Saraswati on August 23.

A week ago, the Orissa government apprised the Commission of the background of the violence and the measures taken by it to control communal clashes and compensate victims.

However, as the complaints kept pouring in, the Commission decided to carry out an on the spot enquiry. Moreover, a dozen organisations approached the Commission drawing its attention to the plight of Scheduled Caste members among Christians after the communal flare-up.

Earlier, a one member team of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) visited the state.

"We would also seek a member from NCM in our team as the enquiry will focus on violence against Scheduled Castes from the minority Christian community," an NCSC official said.

Conversion to Hinduism a condition for Christians to return home in Kandhamal

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Parvathi Menon

Forced conversion of Christians by Hindutva groups has become the order of the day

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August and September saw steady depopulation of villages of their Christian population

The writ of the Sangh Parivar appears to run untrammelled in the district

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— PHOTO: Lingaraj Panda

HOMELESS: Inmates queue up for food at a relief camp set up at the Balika Upper Primary School at Phulbani in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Tuesday.

PHULBANI: “Those who don’t want to become Hindus, stay here. Those who have gone back to their villages are tonsured and forcibly converted,” said D.S. Kumar. A graduate, he used to run an STD booth and a petty shop in Minia, a village in Kandhamal district of Orissa, before his home, possessions and shop were burnt by Hindutva mobs on August 24. Nearly 90 Christian homes in his village were destroyed between August 24 and 29.

“The nine churches in my gram panchayat had already been destroyed in December 2007,” said Kumar. He is now among the 244 inmates of the relief camp at the Balika Upper Primary School in Phulbani, district headquarters of Kandhamal.

Since the murder of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23, for which the Maoists claimed responsibility, Sangh Parivar mobs have been allowed to take the law into their own hands and unleash terror against the Christian population, driving them into the forests, into relief camps, or out of the district.

Kumar’s father Jagannath Digal converted to Hinduism to save his land. “He owns four acres, which they threatened to take away from him. Those who return for livelihood reasons are forced to convert to survive,” said Kumar.

Forced conversion of Christians by Hindutva groups has become the order of the day in Kandhamal district. Not only have Christian families suffered the loss of their homes, possessions and places of worship in sustained attacks by marauding mobs of Hindutva supporters from August 24, they now cannot return to their villages unless they convert.

Heavy price

From the relief camps in Khandamal district and elsewhere where Christian families have taken refuge come stories of this new stage of the Hindutva project.

August and September saw a steady depopulation of villages of their Christian population, who fled fearing for their lives. Now, if families wish to return, conversion to Hinduism is the price they must pay.

Jibardhan Majhe from Rattanga village near Phiringia said that after an attack on his village in December 2007, the RSS asked him to convert by tonsuring his head and breaking a coconut in the temple. He refused and his house was burnt along with other Christian homes on August 26 this year. “Four families of my village have converted to Hinduism and have gone back,” he said.

“In my village, the Hindus told us that if you want to stay here you have to convert. All Christian families except four converted to Hinduism,” said Rina Digal, an inmate of the relief camp. He is from Rasimendi village near Phulbani.

The writ of the Sangh Parivar appears to run untrammelled in the district, with the State machinery appearing to be incapable of controlling them.

They have built a base among the Kondh tribals who act as their foot soldiers against Dalit Christian. The Sangh Parivar has cleverly exploited the divide between the tribals and Dalits who have gained from the education and employment opportunities created by the large network of Christian organisations and charities in the district over the decades.

“Dalit Christians are doing well educationally and socially, and there is jealousy among the tribals over their success,” according to Father Uday, Prefect of the St. Pauls’ Seminary in Baliguda. “The tribals loot from Christian homes after an attack, and take away utensils, money, gold, paddy, rice, dal and cattle. Hindu businessmen see opportunities in this.”

Threat calls

Christian priests, pastors and nuns are unlikely to be able to return to their places of work in Kandhamal in the near future. Some have been marked and get regular threatening calls. “I am a tribal and my nephews are searching to kill me,” said Father Lakshmikant, Parish priest of the St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Baliguda.

He had to flee from the mobs that were after him and spend days in the forest before he reached Bhubaneshwar. He is now in charge of a relief camp at the Missionaries of Charity Centre for Leprosy in the capital.

Meanwhile, thousands of Christian families in relief camps, who have rejected the option of conversion, have little hope of returning to their homes and villages that they left more than a month ago.