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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 “The Hindutva goons were given a free hand and all police forces were withdrawn,” he alleged.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.
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