http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=13598 Orissa Govt to Observe Good Friday on 17th April and not on 10th of April. Reflection on anti-Christian violence in India The Christmas that became Good Friday in Orissa, India, comes under analysis for its multiple layers of origins in Hindu nationalism. Monday, January 14, 2008 By S.S. Cheruvally Christians do not celebrate Good Friday on Christmas Day. But for the Christian brothers and sisters in the district of Kandhamal and its adjacent areas in Orissa, Christmas turned out to be a Good Friday, ‘a veritable Calvary’!
I hope by this time all of you have come to know about the assaults on Christians in the District of Kandhamal in Orissa. This district is in the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhuvaneshwar in Eastern India. Orissa has the darkest history of communal violence and hatred in the burning to death of Mr. Graham Staines and his two young sons in 1999. His family was engaged in the care of leprosy patients. The ethnic-demographic character of the area The Kandh tribals, predominantly pro-Hindu or Hindus, account for an overwhelming 51 per cent of the population. And nearly 70 per cent of the Dalit Panos who constitute 18 per cent of the population are Christians. Among the Pro-Hindu tribals there is the active presence of the VHP leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, founder of an Ashram in Chakapad in late 60s and an anti-Christian campaigner in Kandhamal since then. It is to re-convert tribals and Dalit Christians. In May 2005, he organised the largest Hindu congregation in Orissa to celebrate the reconversion of nearly 350 tribal Christians. To add more complexity to the situation, there is among the pro-Hindu tribals an organisation called Jan Kui Kalyan Samiti which protests against the reservation privileges to the Dalit Christians. The Christian demography is also ecumenical, as it seems. Besides the major catholic community and missionary presence, the area is mixed with protestant and Pentecostal communities and activities. These communities also have suffered the violence unleashed on Christians. The Genesis of Trouble According to the information collected and disseminated by the Archbishop Raphel Cheenath, “The trouble began on 24th December in Bamunigam village under Daringibadi Block of Kandhamal District. Around 8 am, a mob of fundamentalists forcefully removed Christmas decorations put up by Ambedkar Baniko Sangho comprising local Christian entrepreneurs as a preparation for Christmas, with due permission from the administration. Within a few minutes a group of people who were stationed close-by pounced on the members of Ambedkar Baniko Sangho with sticks, swords, guns and other lethal weapons. As per other reports, a rumor was spread that the VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati was attacked by Christians. According to Cardinal Toppo there was no truth in the allegation. The Scale of Destruction On 24th December at around 2.00 p.m. much larger crowd (comprising of 400 to 500 people) marched into Balliguda town parish by damaging and ransacking the church buildings. By 10.00 p.m. they attacked and burnt the church, presbytery, convent, computer room, dispensary, and 2 student hostels. The same armed mob then moved into the town and completely burnt down the church belonging to the Baptist Christians. They also attacked another church belonging to the Pentecostal Christians. During midnight Mass on 24th December, miscreants hurled explosives on Archbishop’s house in Bhubaneswar. On the 25th December they were moving around menacingly threatening the priests and Christians so that they were not even able to file FIR (First Information Report) with the police. A convent in Phulbani was attacked on the same day and the mob ransacked the convent by breaking the doors, and window glasses. They also damaged a new school bus. At 12.00 noon a group of Bajrangdal activists attacked the church of Pobingia parish and destroyed the church and priest’s residence in the afternoon. Parish Church - (8) Village Churches - (48) Convents (6)
