Troubled times linger on for Orissa's Christians

|PIC1|The Supreme Court of India’s ‘Quit if you can’t protect the minorities’ admonition to the Government of Orissa seems not to be taken too seriously by the Biju Janata Dal- Bharatiya Janata Party Coalition ministry in Bhubaneswar and the police headquarters in Cuttack.

Though six thousand federal troops of the Central Reserve Police Force and a Helicopter ensured a peaceful, if very un-Christmassy festival season in the forests and refugee camps of Kandhamal district of the State, shattered by two rounds of anti Christian bloodshed and arson in December 2007 and August-October 2008, ground level peace in forest villages remains a distant dream. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan had made his remarks while hearing Colin Gonsalves, counsel for Archbishop Raphael Cheenath who had filed a Public Interest Litigation, informed the court that only “deceptive calm” existed in Kandhamal.

In fact, the State government is using its so called official peace committees, heavily loaded against the religious minority, to force withdrawal of criminal cases registered by Christians against those who burnt their houses in the first round of Sangh violence from 24-27 December 2007. As many as 107 churches and close to a thousand Christian homes were burnt at that time, as also some Hindu homes [in the Brahminigaon village]. The spirit behind the anti-Christian violence was Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president Lakhmanananda Saraswati, whose murder by Maoists on 23 August 2008 sparked off the second round of mayhem.

Reports were then lodged with the police on January 2008. Criminal complaints were filed in the local courts. Of 127 cases registered in the 2007, only five were ever investigated, the National Commission for Minorities discovered. Affidavits were also filed with the Justice Panigrahi Commission of enquiry in which the VHP leader was named as the instigator. [The commission, after a few sittings in which we participated, has since then been formally boycotted by the Church and the Christian community for its blatant partisanship].

Now, in Brahminigaon, for instance, the District authorities are “encouraging" victim Christians to reach an “accord” with the Hindu community with both parties agreeing to withdraw all criminal cases. Initial reports indicate that the authorities have ensured that there will be no one present when the criminal cases come up for hearing after some weeks.

The entire peace initiative has been under a shadow for want of transparency, and for the one-sided approach of the state officials who are totally under the sway of the BJP ministers in the Cabinet.

The same pressures are visible in the media coverage of the situation, especially in the Oriya language print and television groups. The media continues to target Christian politicians, religious heads and human rights activists. A particular target of criminal slander and coercion is Mr. Radha Kant Nayak, a former federal administrative officer, who is now a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament in New Delhi.

The media attitude was also visible during the identification parade in Cuttack where some of them even found their way, much to the irritation of the magistrate, in the chamber where Sister “M”, raped in Nonagon village of Kandhamal in August 2008, recognised two of her assailants. While the nun could recognise at least two men, Father Thomas Chellum, who was with her when she was attacked, and who was brutally beaten up himself in the presence of the local police and stripped naked, was still too disturbed to be able to identify his assailants from the mixed group of suspects and others paraded before him. Fr Thomas was one of several Catholic and protestant priests attacked and wounded in Kandhamal. A senior Catholic priest, Father Bernard Digal, treasurer of the Archdiocese of Bhubaneswar which covers Kandhamal, died later of his wounds. At least one Pentecost pastor was also butchered by the mobs.

NCM member Michael Pinto has said several Christians were still living under the threat of conversion. "This is not acceptable. The matter of conversions falls under the purview of the Freedom of Religion Act already in force in Orissa.

A new dimension to the terror in Kandhamal has been the emergence of two new groups which apparently will be working in tandem. One is the government sponsored civilian militia, of which 800 will be deployed in Kandhamal and paid out of state funds. The second is the group of 80 young men who had gone to Gujarat last year and have now returned, apparently well armed and well trained. This group has said they will execute Christian on the 23rd of every month to mark the killing of Saraswati. The Orissa government is quiet about it, but the media is trying hard to project it as a split in the Maoist group which killed Saraswati last August.

At the human level, while the State government has gone on record to say it is not confident what will happen once the Federal police are withdrawn, possibly at month-end, the situation of the refugees remains dire. The European commission delegation surveyed refugee camps around Kandhamal and even in Andhra Pradesh before Christmas [they were refused permission to go to Kandhamal], and medical experts who have worked with refugees in the Raikia and G Udaygiri camps speak of widespread anaemia among pregnant and nursing mothers. The health of babies born in the camps since August 2008 is also pitiable for want of neo-natal medicare and nutrition.

A new dimension was added his week when the authorities launched another phase of “thinning out” the camps by sending reluctant refugees back to their villages.

There has been a bumper crop of paddy this year, and ironically it remains unharnessed in most villages because the farmers with small land holdings are in the camps. While some of the crop has been stolen, much remains in the paddy fields and has to be harvested soon if the rice is not to rot. The authorities are assuring safety, and some farmers are willing to go back to harvest the crops, but it remains to be seen how much protection the state forces will provide without the
back-up strength of the federal police.


John Dayal is head of the All India Christian Council and an outspoken activist for the rights of Muslims, Christians and Dalits minorities in India.