GOVERNMENT DOES NOT CARE JUST HOW MANY WILL SLEEP UNDER THE STARS ON
CHRISTMAS IN KANDHAMAL, BUT HAVE WE FORGOTTEN?
AN UPDATE BY JOHN DAYAL
22 December 2011
This is the fourth Christmas that many people of Kandhamal in Orissa will
celebrate in terror, a few thousand of them without a real roof over
their head, scores of widows and orphans remembering the denial of justice
which has seen the killers of the head of the family walk away merrily
after being set free by the sop called Fast Track Courts
Justice still remains an overwhelming issue for about everyone of the
56,000 people who had to run for their lives first on 24th December 2007
and then again from 24th August 2008. They need not have had to flee if
they had obeyed their attackers, changed their faith to Hinduism and burnt
a Bible as a token of their leaving Christianity. They did not. Four
hundred villages were purged of all Christians, more than 5600 houses and
about 295 or so churches burnt, a hundred or more killed -- the exact
number will never be known -- some women, including at least one nun raped.
The tension remains, exacerbated this season with the murder of a law
assistant who was uninvolved in protecting witnesses. In another tribal
district, Keonjhar, twelve houses were burnt in a scenario eerily, and
frighteningly, similar to the one in 2007 and 2008. Adding to the
apprehension is the call by a local group for an agitation, a Bandh, during
Christmas week.
A few days ago, in Bujlimendi village, Arabbakka gram panchayat, Tikkabali
block of G Udayagiri Tehsil, the house of Kaleswar Digal, 45, was sleeping
with his family which includes three children, when his house was set on
fire just after midnight. The family escaped, but the house, including
their animals, were destroyed. There are 25 Christian families in this
village of 100 houses, now living in palpable fear.
The murder was of Rabindra Parichha, a legal activist who had been working
with the Evangelical Fellowship of India for justice in Kandhamal. He was
killed on 15th December evening at Bhanjanagar, Ganjam District, which
adjoins Kandhamal. A former village chief and a local leader, Rabindra was
a popular figure in the region. His family lives in their home in
Bhaliapara, in Raikia block of Kandhamal. The police have not been able to
say why he was killed. His body bore multiple injuries. Cause of his murder
is not known.
Rabindra Parichha is the third Christian leader to be killed during this
year. Pastor Saul Pradhan of Banjamaha (Raikia) was the first Christian
killed during 2011. The police version is that he died of too much liquor
and the cold. Pastor Minoketan Nayak of Midiakia (Baliguda) was killed on
26 July. Police say that he died in a bike accident.
The police have not acted on reports that Manoj Pradhan, member of the
state legislative assembly and prime accused in several cases of murder has
been moving from village to village instigating anti-social elements and
allegedly urging them to finish off all Christian leaders of Kandhamal.
The police are also deaf to reports of hate speech. On 23 July, a large
rally at Phulbani saw a lot of hate speech, and slogans such as
Hindu-Hindu: bhai-bhai _ Anya sab desh-drohi [Hindus are brothers.
Everyone else is a traitor]. The police was present, but took no action.
The Kui Samaj, a front organisation of the right wing hyper nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party which was once in an alliance in the State
government, has called for Kandhamal bandh for five days from 23 to 27
December, throwing the Christians into a state of panic. They have memories
of the 2007 violence which also took place in the backdrop of another such
strike, or bandh. Bipra Charan Nayak, convener of the Survivors’
Associations of Communal Violence, has demanded that the district and state
authorities take note of the latest strike call and act swiftly and
sternly. The memorandum, to the government said We remind you that every
year, Kui Samanyaya Samittee in nexus with extreme element of Sangh Parivar
gives Bandh Call creating mental trauma among the peace loving Christians
of Kandhamal. We demand that such practice be stopped.
The All India Christian Council, one of the several groups working in rehab
and justice issues said Although we are for the freedom of expression and
do not wish to curb demonstrations and political activity by any group,
even by those who are against Christianity and the Christian people, it is
the duty of the government to ensure that there is no excuse for
confrontation or violence. In Kandhamal, we have had bitter experience. Out
community has been deeply wounded, specially in the aftermath of bundh
calls during and around Christmas. We are therefore apprehensive of such
bandh calls. The Orissa government and the Kandhamal administration must
restrain all mischievous and fundamentalist elements and ensure the
Christmas is peaceful.
Not that the region outside Kandhamal is peaceful. On 8th December 2011, a
Hindu
