Orissa Government told Supreme Court on Thursday, 4-Sep that no VHP rally that could inflame the smoldering passions in Khandhmal would be allowed. The proposed yatra by Praveen Togadia was ostensibly for the declared purpose of carrying the ashes of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati done to death by yet-to-be-determined extremist elements on August 23. The assurance followed Orissa Archbishop Raphael Cheenath’s submission to the apex court through senior advocate Colin Gonsalves that allowing any such yatra would be akin to striking a matchstick into the communal tinder box. It is widely feared by the victimized community locally in Orissa that the “asthi-kalash” yatra is merely a ruse – since the Swami was not cremated but buried, so no ashes really to parade – to incite communal passions yet again for a repeat of Gujarat-like engineered carnage; to give effect to the oft-repeated and declared agenda of the Hindu fundamentalists to “wipe out Christians” from the State.
As per reports, VHP leader is quite undeterred by the SC’s flak or its orders to the State to keep communal elements at bay, and declared the yatra would go on. He has merely changed the “asthi-kalash yatra” to a “shradhanjali yatra” to condole the Swami’s death, and said they “will march through every village and town of
It may be recalled the so-called “spontaneous” reaction to target Christians commenced this second time round on August 26 and only after the venom spitting Praveen Togadia’s visit to Orissa on Aug 25 – who in his typical style aroused the crowds by blaming Christians for the brutal murder – and not earlier or immediately after the Swami’s killing on Aug-23. This view is supported by analysts and now even by a section of the local police brass who feel the hasty suspension of SP Kandhmal who had effectively controlled any communal fall-out immediately after the Swami’s killing on Aug-23 was a knee-jerk reaction, which act may in turn have helped the communal forces he had controlled to have a free hand to commit the carnage without state intervention.
In the aftermath of the on-going violence against the minority peace loving Christian community, at least 26 Christians have been killed; six priests and other religious injured, more than 40 Churches and convents burnt, 11 other Christian institutions including orphanages attacked and ten Christian shops looted; and over 5000 Christian houses torched or destroyed – affecting 50,000 people who have fled into jungles for safety.
Earlier, in the first of ethnic cleansing of Christians from the area which had begun on the eve of Christmas 2007 and lasted for a month thereafter, more than 100 churches were destroyed in arson, at least six people killed and thousands of Christians rendered homeless to hide in jungles braving severe winter, and surviving on forest products.
Following the current carnage, His Grace Vincent M. Concessao – Archbishop of Delhi, led a peace mission to Orissa on September 2-3 to meet up with Hindu leaders on the issue of violence in Kandhmal and neighboring areas. I was part of this delegation, which also included Archbishop Raphael Cheenath – the centre-stage head of the victimized community in Orissa to espouse whose cause and that of the larger Christian community we were going – who however had to drop out following serious threats to his own life. Our one point agenda – to seek a dialogue and appeal for cessation of all violence in the State, restore peace and harmony, and promote inter-community understanding through proactive dialogue with mutual respect for each other's concerns.
The Christian delegation consisting of Archbishop Vincent, Fr. Dominic Emanuel –the spokesperson of Delhi Archdiocese, and myself – reinforced by Orissa locals Bishop Sarat Chandranayak of Berhampur and Dr. Swarupnanda Patro of the Baptist Federation…. met the Hindu leaders on September-2: Ashok Das - Orissa Chief of RSS; Ashok Sahu of Hindu Jagaran Manch; Bipin Behari Rath- State President VHP; Laxmikant Dash – State Gen Secy Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram; Prof Gopal Chandra Mohapatra – Gen Secy RSS; Gauri Prasad Rath – State Gen Secy VHP; and later, also Ajit Mohapatra the Kshetriya Pracharak of RSS.
It was obvious that this host of Hindu front organizations generally known as the Sangh Parivar have serious problem with people converting to Christianity of their own freewill. Their simple thesis is Islam and Christianity are foreign religions, so their followers or converts to them automatically owe their allegiance elsewhere and turn anti-national. No arguments, evidence by way of statistics, or the contribution Christians have made to the development of this country in terms of education or health services or their role in the army and other services, in preserving the languages and cultures of India; or the fact of their diminishing population (from 2.8 % about five decades ago to 2.33% in 2001) brook merit to convince the Sangh members. No testimony contrary to the ideological brainwashing received at their morning Shakhas over last 80 years seems to cut ice.
The Church has all along clarified that conversion to Christianity by force or fraudulent means is strictly forbidden. The Indian Constitution and Indian Penal Code hold such activities criminal. Despite that, several Indian states have passed anti-conversion laws, Orissa being one of the first to do so in 1967 – for reasons it would appear no other than to harass and put hurdles to the developmental work the Church is engaged in.
The self-coined refrain “Christians killed Swami Laxmanananda” continues relentlessly despite no substantiation through fact or evidence, and despite claims by Maoists and the state police that the killing appeared to be carried out by Maoists. It is but natural that the voice of two percent Christian community against the canards of 84% majority community just gets drowned, rendering the Christian community at its wits end.
In the circumstances, it was agreed during the dialogue, that we should at least build upon the unanimously agreed desire for peace, and to issue a joint declaration to this effect. Even so the reluctance of the representatives to append their signatures to this joint declaration or to be seen on the same platform with the Christian delegates while pronouncing this declaration – for reasons of being viewed adversely by their rank and file, and before the proposed “shradh” yatra, surprised us all. In fact the foreboding message this spells out is loud and clear. Are we to expect another Gujarat-like pogrom too to wipe out minorities in Orissa?
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