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Trishool
Against Trinity
As Hindutva goons unleash unspeakable violence against Christians in
Orissa, the Indian nation state is largely silent and the civil
society protests too muted.
Sach Kanwal Singh
 Distance here is
measured in violence, and burnt churches are used as landmarks.
Welcome to
Orissa, India’s
shame and a symbol of its policy towards minorities.
Anti-minorityism
is the ruling ditty of
India currently.
Kill Christians in Orissa, and then say this is because they indulge
in conversions. Kill Muslims in Kashmir and then claim they like
Pakistan more than us. Shower respect on men like Ajit Singh Poohla
by sending top serving police officials to his funeral, and then
claim he was helping the cause of the Indian establishment.
 The world
watched
India’s ugly face in Orissa, and that ugliness is not going anywhere
soon. Anti-Christian violence fanned and was perpetrated by goons of
saffron RSS-BJP affiliated bodies like Vishav Hindu Parishad and
Bajrang Dal. Reports trickling from the ground said sporadic
violence was still on.
Kandhamal
district in Orissa was Ground Zero in communal maelstrom, and burnt
for the second time in eight months in violence sparked by the
August 23 murder of saffron leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. It
is clear that the underlying cause is the battle between Hindus and
Christian converts over reservations in educational institutions and
government jobs.
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India's shame has returned. Nine years ago, Bajrang Dal mob led
by Dara Singh burnt alive Australian missionary Graham Stuart
Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy in a Keonjhar village in
Orissa. It was also the year that Dangs district in Gujarat
witnessed attacks on Christian chapels and houses. Since then,
India has seen worst communal riots in Gujarat. Now, Christians
are again the target. Saffron bodies are leading the frontal
attack on minorities, and the Indian nation state swings between
passive collusion and active silence. A report from Ground Zero
at Kandhamal. |
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Even by the
shameless standards of definitions of poverty in
India,
the 8,021 sq km Kandhamal is poor. Of the 6.48 lakh people in the
district, 3.36 lakh (52 per cent) belong to scheduled tribes (STs),
while another 1.05 lakh (17 per cent) are scheduled castes (SCs).
Of the 1 lakh
Christians, 60 per cent are converts from SCs, locally known as
‘Pana Christians’. This group’s demand for ST status, and the
ensuing reservations in jobs and educational institutes, is what has
fuelled tensions between the local Kondh community and the Pana
Christians. Under the rules, STs who convert to Christianity
continue to enjoy reservations, but not SCs who convert.
The Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP), opposed to reservations for Pana Christians,
exploited this explosive mix and its state chief Gouri Prasad Rath
issues inflammatory statements at the drop of a hat.
As Father
Alexander of the church at Sankarakhol explained, the administration
was well aware of the riot potential if Swami Saraswati’s body was
to be allowed in a procession from Tumudibandha to Chakapada, a
distance of over 200 km, but it let the passions to be ignited.
Kandhamal’s per
capita income is Rs 4,743 ($106 approximately), it has no industrial
investment, entire district has just 15 police stations and merely
647 personnel looking after 6.48 lakh people. Habitations are
scattered and most roads run through jungles. You need only cut a
single tree and routes are blocked, a technique perfected by RSS
goons.
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Kandhamal’s various blocks today show a shattered world of
faith. Burnt churches, plundered houses, charred doors and
windows, broken glass and threatened populace. Christians shrink
within themselves at the sight of an outsider. Horrors are
unspeakable. The story everywhere is same and eerie.
No one has cleared the debris because no one is left to do so. |
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A group of 30
assailants killed Lakshmanananda Saraswati who was dead opposed to
conversions and Christians, a widely known fact. Hordes of tribals
led by frenzied VHP activists attacked the houses of Christians,
whom they held responsible for the attack, even though the Maoists
took responsibility for the murder. More than 20 people have so far
died and there is no count of the injured. Thousands are on the
road, and no one disputes that Christians have been the only
victims.
Hacked to death
by a rampaging mob of Hindu extremists were two Christians in
Mutungia village, one in Petaponga village, one in Borimunda
village, three in Katinga village, three in Tianga village, three in
Adikuppa village and one in Bakingia village.
Orissa’s shame
has returned. Nine years ago, the state was swept by communal
violence after a mob led by Bajrang Dal’s Dara Singh set Australian
missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy on
fire, as they lay sleeping in their station wagon in Manoharpur
village
of Keonjhar district. It was also the year that Dangs district in
Gujarat
witnessed attacks on Christian chapels and houses after the VHP
accused missionaries of illegal conversion.
 Saraswati was
known for yagnas and reconversion programmes. The BJP leadership
openly supports him. Karendra Majhi, BJP MLA of Baligudasaid the
“tribals are obviously Hindus. They follow Hindu rituals. It is
logical that they are with us and against the Christians. We don’t
want violence but people will react if religious leaders are
killed.” Sangh Parivar liked the Swami because of his
anti-conversion activities in this impoverished district.
The Hindu
nationalist BJP’s contribution is to add fuel to fire. On August 24,
the party, a partner in the state’s ruling coalition, and the VHP
carried out a bandh and Hindu activists made inflammatory speeches.
With deep-rooted
poverty and massive illiteracy, Orissa has been the hunting ground
of Christian and RSS.
Battle lines are
very pronounced in Orissa and clashes do not always make it to
national news. Kandhamal, Gajapati, Bolangir and Sundargarh
districts have often seen bloodshed. Except for VHP and BJP
propaganda, there is no evidence of forcible conversions.
Maoist presence
in Orissa is strong, and they don’t like the ways of the RSS-BJP
Hindu madmen.
 Kandhamal’s
various blocks today show a shattered world of faith. Burnt
churches, plundered houses, charred doors and windows, broken glass
and threatened populace. Christians shrink within themselves at the
sight of an outsider. Horrors are unspeakable. The story everywhere
is same and eerie. Hundreds of armed men surrounding the village,
ransacking the homes and setting them on fire - the pattern was same
almost all over.
A few of the
Hindu houses that had the saffron flag flying atop were spared.
In Tikabali
village, all Christian houses were burnt. The Believers Church of
Tengedapathar was ransacked, its porch pulled to the ground.
No one has
cleared the debris because no one is left to do so.
In Raikia
village, jawans of the Orissa Rapid Action Force stand in the
verandah. Little kids are a picture of fright. Here the attackers
even had bombs. The panchayat office is the shelter, and no one is
ready to return home. Anyway, most houses have been burnt. But even
as the jawans watched, BJP and VHP goons shooed away reporter trying
to talk to the Christian victims. “They killed Swamiji and therefore
deserve this treatment,” one shouted. There was no reaction from the
jawans. Just like
India.
 In Baliguda
block, the hospital was crowded. Injured youth from the neighboring
Barakhamba village narrated tales of clashes and shooting in
Barakhamba on August 27 that left one dead and many injured.
“They surrounded
our houses in the evening and started firing. They had sharp weapons
and entered our houses. I tried to flee but they caught me and hit
me with an axe on my thigh. I managed to escape and kept running
till I fell into a ditch,” says 18-year-old Prasanta Digal.
Malini Digal, a
class IX student of
Barakhamba High
School, was fortunate to have escaped the mob—and also to have found
a bed in the hospital. “They surrounded my house and set it on fire.
My family managed to escape but I was trapped,” she says feebly, as
her father Namri Digal looks on.
India claimed to
have rushed para-military men. But the fact is that they could never
reach the villages. There is no proper road. They have to walk for
hours. By the time they get to the villages, the attackers leave and
move on to the next targets.
There were many
reports of Christians being pulled from their homes and killed or
beaten, with many homes of Christians torched in Baliguda. The
Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) said the
East India
office of Compassion International in Bhubaneswar was ransacked.
Thousands of
Christians along with their families were forced to run for their
lives and they took shelter in the nearby forests to save their
lives in the rainy climate and are without shelter, food and
clothing.
Pastor Sikandar
Singh of the Pentecostal Mission was beaten and his house was burned
in Bhawanipatna. In Kharihar, three Christian shops were looted and
burned. Pastor Alok Das was beaten at Kharihar, as was pastor I.M.
Senapati. In Aampani, pastor David Diamond Pahar was beaten by more
than 200 people. They chased him away from Aampani, and he is hiding
in nearby villages.
Pastor Pravin
Ship and two other area pastor identified only as Pradhan and Barik
were beaten and chased away with their families. In Naktikani, an
angry mob surrounded the village to attack Christians. The
government sent forces to try to control the mob but without
success.
Officially,
Indian government has admitted that 558 houses and 17 churches were
burnt, but reports clearly depict the numbers were too conservative.
3 September 2008
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