Shall We Do Something?

The incident of so called 'terrorist' attack(bomb blast) at Delhi, is hitting the head lines.... 20 DEAD, 90 INJURED, NATION'S SECURITY AT RISK.....One can imagine the time and space that the incident 'occupies' on TV and News print. One can also imagine the flooding of letters to the editor, debates and discussions, opportunistic political statements demanding ban on extremist(they always only mean Islamic) groups, introduction of stringent laws against terrorism.

But ongoing violence in Orissa, even worse than Delhi's bomb blasts never threatened nations security and integrity. Incidents of arson, rape, killing, ransacking and burning of Churches and houses and running for life, forceful conversion(to Hinduism) attracted no headlines, occupied no relative time and space, provoked no debates, discussions and statements. Media has become partial and political in reporting. Often the truth is unreported. Now, the conspiracy is on to prove that violence is not of communal, but of ethnic violence between Pana dalits(Christians) and kandha tribals(Hindus). Culprits are left free and they are on spree of creating a Hindu society based on Hindu'tva'(Hindutva different from Hindu) ideology, that would extinguish all minorities and secular forces.

Now it is the time for us to act on to save the plurality of India. We must make the disinterested Media to recognize and realize our voice. Each one of us should take the responsibility to voice out our views on this anti-Christian violence(I mean on any communal violence at all times), on our right to freedom of religion, on our Indianess and on any thing that is related with the issue. Below the email ids of different media houses are facilitated. Each one of us are welcomed to express his/her views. May be the same view can be mailed to all ids. These views may get published or may not get published, but Media gets the pulse of the vulnerable and feels pressurized to be on the side of truth. This may be a small step to protest and express in a big way... Lets make it happen!!!


Email ids of different Media Houses:

The Tribune: letters@tribuneindia.com

Times of India: toieditorial@timesgroup.com

The Hindu: thehindu@vsnl.com

Indian Express: editor@expressindia.com

The Asian Age: editoped@asianage.com

Hindustan Times: letters@hindustantimes.com

The Statesman: thestatesman@vsnl.net or thestatesman@vsnl.com

Deccan Chronicle: editor@deccanmail.com

Deccan Herald: db.dutta@deccanherald.co.in

The Telegraph: ttedit@abpmail.com


Tehelka: editor@tehelka.com

The Week: editor@the-week.com

NDTV: feedback@ndtv.com

CNN-IBN: editor@ibnlive.com

TV9: info@tv9.net(Andhra)
response@tv9.net(Karnataka)
info@sstmedia.com (Kolkota)
news@indiavisiontv.com (Kerala)

E TV: Click on the links
http://www.etv.co.in/e-tv-5/feedback.php?channelname=Etv&fromhome=index1 (telugu)
http://www.etv.co.in/e-tv-5/feedback.php?channelname=Oriya&fromhome=index1 (oriya)
http://www.etv.co.in/e-tv-5/feedback.php?channelname=MadhyaPradesh&fromhome=index1 (MP & Chattisgarh)
http://www.etv.co.in/e-tv-5/feedback.php?channelname=Gujarati&fromhome=index1 (gujarathi)
http://www.etv.co.in/e-tv-5/feedback.php?channelname=Bangla&fromhome=index1 (bengali)

Jaya TV: news@jayanetwork.in , admin@jayanetwork.com

BBC: http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/ContactUsDepartments.aspx

Sun Network: queries@sunnetwork.in


Shailendra S J

Hindutva's Violent History

Hindutva's Violent History

ANGANA CHATTERJI
Anthropologist

HINDUTVA'S PRODUCTION of culture and nation is often marked by savagery. On 23 August 2008, Lakshmanananda Saraswati, Orissa's Hindu nationalist icon, was murdered with four disciples in Jalespeta in Kandhamal district. State authorities alleged the attackers to be Maoists (and a group has subsequently claimed the murder). But the Sangh Parviar held the Christian community responsible, even though there is no evidence or history to suggest the armed mobilisation of Christian groups in Orissa.

After the murder, the All India Christian Council stated: “The Christian community in India abhors violence, condemns all acts of terrorism, and opposes groups of people taking the law into their own hands”. Gouri Prasad Rath, General Secretary, VHPOrissa, stated: “Christians have killed Swamiji. We will give a befitting reply. We would be forced to opt for violent protests if action is not taken against the killers”.

Following which, violence engulfed the district. Churches and Christian houses razed to the ground, frightened Christians hiding in the jungles or in relief camps. Officials record the death toll at 13, local leaders at 20, while the Asian Centre for Human Rights noted 50.

The Sangh’s history in postcolonial Orissa is long and violent. Virulent Hindutva campaigns against minority groups reverberated in Rourkela in 1964, Cuttack in 1968 and 1992, Bhadrak in 1986 and 1991, Soro in 1991. The Kandhamal riots were not unforeseen.

Since 2000, the Sangh has been strengthened by the Bharatiya Janata Party's coalition government with the Biju Janata Dal. In October 2002, a Shiv Sena unit in Balasore district declared the formation of the first Hindu ‘suicide squad’. In March 2006, Rath stated that the “VHP believes that the security measures initiated by the Government [for protection of Hindus] are not adequate and hence Hindu society has taken the responsibility for it.”

The VHP has 1,25,000 primary workers in Orissa. The RSS operates 6,000 shakhas with a 1,50,000 plus cadre. The Bajrang Dal has 50,000 activists working in 200 akharas. BJP workers number above 4,50,000. BJP Mohila Morcha, Durga Vahini (7,000 outfits in 117 sites), and Rashtriya Sevika Samiti (80 centres) are three major Sangh women's organisations. BJP Yuva Morcha, Youth Wing, Adivasi Morcha and Mohila Morcha have a prominent base. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh manages 171 trade unions with a cadre of 1,82,000. The 30,000-strong Bharatiya Kisan Sangh functions in 100 blocks. The Sangh also operates various trusts and branches of national and international institutions to aid fundraising, including Friends of Tribal Society, Samarpan Charitable Trust, Sookruti, Yasodha Sadan, and Odisha International Centre. Sectarian development and education are carried out by Ekal Vidyalayas, Vanavasi Kalyan Ashrams/Parishads (VKAs), Vivekananda Kendras, Shiksha Vikas Samitis and Sewa Bharatis — cementing the brickwork for hate and civil polarisation.

This massive mobilisation has erupted in ugly incidents against both Christians and Muslims. In 1998, 5,000 Sangh activists allegedly attacked the Christian dominated Ramgiri-Udaygiri villages in Gajapati district, setting fire to 92 homes, a church, police station, and several government vehicles. Earlier, Sangh activists allegedly entered the local jail forcibly and burned two Christian prisoners to death. In 1999, Graham Staines, 58, an Australian missionary and his 10- and six-year-old sons were torched in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar. A Catholic nun, Jacqueline Mary was gangraped by men in Mayurbhanj and Arul Das, a Catholic priest, was murdered in Jamabani, Mayurbhanj, followed by the destruction of churches in Kandhamal. In 2002, the VHP converted 5,000 people to Hinduism. In 2003, the VKA organised a 15,000- member rally in Bhubaneswar, propagating that Adivasi (and Dalit) converts to Christianity be denied affirmative action. In 2004, seven women and a male pastor were forcibly tonsured in Kilipal, Jagatsinghpur district, and a social and economic boycott was imposed against them. A Catholic church was vandalised and the community targeted in Raikia.

Change the cast, the story is still the same. 1998: A truck transporting cattle owned by a Muslim was looted and burned, the driver’s aide beaten to death in Keonjhar district. 1999: Shiekh Rehman, a Muslim clothes merchant, was mutilated and burned to death in a public execution at the weekly market in Mayurbhanj. 2001: In Pitaipura village, Jagatsinghpur, Hindu communalists attempted to orchestrate a land-grab connected to a Muslim graveyard. On November 20, 2001, around 3,000 Hindu activists from nearby villages rioted. Muslim houses were torched, Muslim women were ill-treated, their property, including goats and other animals, stolen. 2005: In Kendrapara, a contractor was shot on Govari Embankment Road, supposedly by members of a Muslim gang. Sangh groups claimed the shooting was part of a gang war associated with Islamic extremism and called for a 12hour bandh. Hindu organisations are alleged to have looted and set Muslim shops on fire.

It is Saraswati who pioneered the Hinduisation of Kandhamal since 1969. Activists targeted Adivasis, Dalits, Christians and Muslims through socio-economic boycotts and forced conversions (named ‘re’conversion, presupposing Adivasis and Dalits as ‘originally’ Hindus).

Kandhamal first witnessed Hindutva violence in 1986. The VKAs, instated in 1987, worked to Hinduise Kondh and Kui Adivasis and polarise relations between them and Pana Dalit Christians. Kandhamal remains socio-economically vulnerable, a large percentage of its population living in poverty. Approximately 90 percent of Dalits are landless. A majority of Christians are landless or marginal landholders. Hindutva ideologues say Dalits have acquired economic benefits, augmented by Christianisation. This is not borne out in reality.

In October 2005, converting 200 Bonda Adivasi Christians to Hinduism in Malkangiri, Saraswati said: “How will we… make India a completely Hindu country? The feeling of Hindutva should come within the hearts and minds of all the people.” In April 2006, celebrating RSS architect Golwalkar’s centenary, Saraswati presided over seven yagnas attended by 30,000 Adivasis. In September 2007, supporting the VHP’s statewide road-rail blockade against the supposed destruction of the mythic ‘Ram Setu’, Saraswati conducted a Ram Dhanu Rath Yatra to mobilise Adivasis.

In 2008, Hindutva discourse named Christians as ‘conversion terrorists’. But the number of such conversions is highly inflated. They claim there are rampant and forced conversions in Phulbani-Kandhamal. But the Christian population in Kandhamal is 1,17,950 while Hindus number 5,27,757. Orissa Christians numbered 8,97,861 in the 2001 census — only 2.4 percent of the state’s population. Yet, Christian conversions are storied as debilitating to the majority status of Hindus while Muslims are seen as ‘infiltrating’ from Bangladesh, dislocating the ‘Oriya (and Indian) nation’.

The right to religious conversion is constitutionally authorised. Historically, conversions from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam have been a way to escape caste oppression and social stigma for Adivasis and Dalits. In February 2006, the VHP called for a law banning (non- Hindu) religious conversions. In June 2008, it urged that religious conversion be decreed a 'heinous crime' across India.

‘Reconversion’ strategies of the Sangh appear to be shifting in Orissa. The Sangh reportedly proposed to 'reconvert' 10,000 Christians in 2007. But fewer public conversion ceremonies were held in 2007 than in 2004- 2006. Converting politicised Adivasi and Dalit Christians to Hinduism is proving difficult. The Sangh has instead increased its emphasis on the Hinduisation of Adivasis through their participation in Hindu rituals, which, in effect, ‘convert’ Adivasis by assuming that they are Hindu.

The draconian Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), 1967, must be repealed. There are enough provisions under the Indian Penal Code to prevent and prohibit conversions under duress. But consenting converts to Christianity are repeatedly charged under OFRA, while Hindutva perpetrators of forcible conversions are not. The Sangh contends that 'reconversion' to Hinduism through its ‘Ghar Vapasi’ (homecoming) campaign is not conversion but return to Hinduism, the ‘original’ faith. This allows them to dispense with the procedures under OFRA.

The Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 should also be repealed. It is utilised to target livelihood practices of economically disenfranchised groups, Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, who engage in cattle trade and cow slaughter.

In fact, a CBI investigation into the activities of the VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal is crucial as per the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Groups such as the VHP and VKA are registered as cultural and charitable organisations but their work is political in nature. They should be audited and recognised as political organisations, and their charitable status and privileges reviewed.

The state and central government's refusal to restrain Hindu militias evidences their linkage with Hindutva (BJP), soft Hindutva (Congress), and the capitulation of civil society to Hindu majoritarianism. How would the nation have reacted if groups with affiliation other than than militant Hinduism executed riot after riot: Calcutta 1946, Kota 1953, Rourkela 1964, Ranchi 1967, Ahmedabad 1969, Bhiwandi 1970, Aligarh 1978, Jamshedpur 1979, Moradabad 1980, Meerut 1982, Hyderabad 1983, Assam 1983, Delhi 1984, Bhagalpur 1989, Bhadrak 1991, Ayodhya 1992, Mumbai 1992, Gujarat 2002, Marad 2003, Jammu 2008?

The BJD-BJP government has repeatedly failed to honour the constitutional mandate separating religion from state. In 2005-06, Advocate Mihir Desai and I convened the Indian People's Tribunal on Communalism in Orissa, led by Retired Kerala Chief Justice KK Usha. The Tribunal’s findings detailed the formidable mobilisation by majoritarian communalist organisations, including in Kandhamal, and the Sangh's visible presence in 25 of 30 districts. The report did not invoke any response from the state or central government.

In January 2000, The Asian Age reported: “‘One village, one shakha’ is the new slogan of the RSS as it aims to saffronise the entire Gujarat state by 2005.” Then ensued the genocide of March 2002. In 2003, Subash Chouhan, then Bajrang Dal state convener, stated: “Orissa is the second Hindu Rajya (to Gujarat).”

We all know what has happened in Kandhamal December 2007, and again now. The communal situation in Orissa is dire. State and civil society resistance to Hindutva’s ritual and catalytic abuse cannot wait.

The writer is associate professor of anthropology at California Institute of Integral Studies and author of a forthcoming book:
Violent Gods: Hindu Nationalism in India's Present, Narratives from Orissa
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 36, Dated Sept 13, 2008

In The Name of God

In the name of God
VIJAY SIMHA
Examines the consequences of lessons taught by men of religion, among the desperately poor in Orissa

WHEN THEY came for Narmada Digal, she wasn’t there. She had fled, five children and mother-inlaw in tow, to the safety of the jungles a kilometre away. So, they set about what she left behind. A framed picture of Jesus, a Bible in Oriya, utensils in the kitchen, some clothes, and linen. By the time Narmada tiptoed back, her home was gone. What was left was still hot from the ashes, and smoking. The neighbours came to commiserate. Narmada took a good look, stood erect, and pulled her sari over her head. She began to pray.

“Lord, forgive us our sins. Jesus, you are the only one. Save us from our misfortune. Free us, Lord.” The words are tumbling out. Narmada’s children have joined her. She is weeping as she pleads for deliverance. So is everybody else. It’s a simple bond that no human wrath can sever, a woman and her God. “I will die. But I won’t stop being a Christian,” Narmada says.

This is in the heart of Kandhamal, a district at the geographical centre of Orissa, ravaged by probably the worst fighting in India between Hindus and Christians. Kandhamal is young, constituted as recently as 1994. It has 2,515 villages spread over 7,649 sq km. The terrain is inaccessible, full of hills and narrow lanes crisscrossing the villages. There isn’t a single industrial unit here. There are no railway lines, and so no trains come here. Buses are rare. It’s so far behind that even the official website of Kandhamal says, “Overall, the district is ranked as a backward district in the state of Orissa .”

In this doleful land live close to eight lakh people. In terms of castes and tribes, the Kandha tribe constitute more than half the population of Kandhmal. The Panos, who are the dalits, form the next big chunk. The Kandha tribe is almost fully under the control of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an 83-year-old socio-political organisation, which is the fountainhead of many Hindu outfits in India. The Panos are where the Christian community gets its numbers.

In terms of population, nearly a quarter of Kandhamal are Christians, the rest almost wholly Hindus. The percentage of Christians in Kandhamal — 25 percent — is astonishingly high compared to the 2.44 percent for the whole of Orissa. In percentage terms, Orissa has the third-largest concentration of Hindus in India (nearly 95 percent in the 2001 Census). Muslims are barely two percent.

The rise in the number of Christians in Kandhamal is offering radical Hindu outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) the perfect alibi to launch an aggressive anti- Christian movement. The movement has two aims: to reconvert Christians to Hinduism, and to stop the alleged slaughter of cows.

An 81-year-old RSS activist, Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, was heading the VHP movement in Kandhamal. He operated largely from two ashrams 150 km from each other. He was a member of the VHP’s Kendriya Margadarshak Mandal, a powerful decisionmaking panel. On August 23, Saraswati was gunned down in one of the ashrams at night while celebrating Janmashtami. It was the tenth attempt at killing Saraswati, a figure disliked by the Christians, but revered by a band of fanatic Hindu male followers in his ashram.


Few know who killed Saraswati. But, there are some theories. The Orissa Government says the Maoists (who are trying to build a base in Kandhamal) killed him. The government claim is based on two statements purportedly released by the CPI (Maoist), taking responsibility for the murder. The second statement said: “We have decided to punish anti-people, fanatical leaders like Saraswati because of endless persecution of religious minorities in the country. There will be more such punishments if violence is continued against religious minorities in the country.” It is too pat for the Orissa Government. And, if true, the statements would mean that the Maoists have entered the religious conflicts of India.

A second theory is coming from the VHP. After Saraswati’s murder, VHP International President Ashok Singhal issued a statement saying, “Once again the cruel face of the Christian missionaries has been exposed. Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati was working for 45 years among the tribals by building hospitals, schools and hostels. He was neither a capitalist nor an anti-social. Because of his work, the tribals were awakened to our culture and religion, which was an obstacle only for the Christian missionaries.”

Christian bodies, on the other hand, have a third view. They say they have nothing to do with Saraswati’s murder and have sought an inquiry by the Central Government. The National Secretary of Public Affairs of the All India Christian Council, Dr Sam Paul, said, “The Christian community in India abhors violence, condemns all acts of terrorism, and opposes groups of people taking the law into their own hands. We have had major differences with Mr Saraswati, the deceased VHP leader. It was the hate campaigns of the Sangh Parivar [the RSS is often referred to in this fashion], which led to untold misery for Christians — including the unprecedented violence last Christmas in Orissa. But, we wish peace to everyone and urge everyone to follow the rule of law.”

Whatever the truth, the murder inflamed passions. Even those who do not support the RSS were disturbed by media reports that 30 people in masks and hoods had come to kill Saraswati, and that they hacked at his legs after shooting him. When the Orissa Government allowed Saraswati’s funeral procession to pass across 150km in Kandhamal, reason went out.

By August 25, hordes of Hindu militants were attacking Christian homes and places of worship in Kandhamal. The attacks were mainly at night. On September 1, the Orissa Government told the story in figures: 16 persons killed, 35 injured, 185 arrested; 558 houses and 17 places of worship burnt; 12,539 fed in 10 relief camps; 12 companies of paramilitary forces, 24 platoons of the Orissa State Armed Police, two sections of the Armed Police Reserve Force, and two teams of the Special Operation Group deployed.

The human story is worse. VHP International General Secretary Praveen Togadia, who trained to be an oncologist but who likes nothing better than to drive non-Hindus out of India, reached Kandhamal for Saraswati’s last rites (he was buried in a sitting position — the padmasana — in his Chakapada ashram, where he ran a school and hostel for boys). Togadia said a Christian sect had killed Saraswati. It was enough to trigger murderous assaults on Christians in Kandhamal and elsewhere in Orissa. Hundreds of Christian homes were set ablaze, a few pastors were slain, and warnings were issued asking them to return home as Hindus, or never.

IN SOME cases, the terror works. In the jungles off Sankarakhol village, one of the first targeted by the militant Hindus, a group of RSS whole-timers are reconverting 18 Christians to Hinduism. It’s a daytime ceremony. The RSS Mandal Mukhiya (head of the Mandal unit) Sudhir Pradhan, a slim bearded man, is in charge. There are 30 Hindus to make sure that the 18 Christians don’t change their mind.

Each of the Christians has brought a Bible, in Oriya, along. They have also brought a coconut each, and some incense sticks, red thread to tie around the wrist, and vermillion for their foreheads. The Christians first burn their Bibles in a small bonfire. They sit in a circle. In the middle are the coconuts, each one signifying a Christian, and the other paraphernalia. The God of the Hills is appeased first in a prayer.

Then, a Christian rises. He has a coconut in his hand. “I swear that I have become a Hindu today. After today, if I ever become a Christian again, may my dynasty perish,” he says. He breaks the coconut on a stone. The other Christians follow, each one making the same promise. Some murmur, some are loud. A Hindu priest begins to apply vermillion on the foreheads of the Christians-turned-Hindus. One of them protests, but it is too late. There’s a red streak on his forehead as well.

Sudhir Pradhan then takes over. Eyes closed, spine firm, and voice ominous. There is a deep and rhythmic chanting of Om followed by the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred chant of the Hindus. The slogans follow: “Bharat mata ki jai.” “Ganga mata ki jai.” “Gau mata ki jai.” “Sri Ramjanambhoomi ki jai.” They pause for a few moments and the Christians-becoming-Hindus kneel, placing their foreheads on the ground. There’s a final “Jai Shri Ram.” The first stage of reconversion from Christianity to Hinduism is over. The motivation for these Christians to reconvert is life. They want to live in Kandhamal, keep their houses and, maybe, get some regular work.

Months afterward, these Christian-turned- Hindus will be asked to attend a yagya — a Hindu ritual of sacrifice that involves the worship of deities, unity and charity. In the yagya, they will wear saffron clothes and a sacred thread, and get their heads shaved. They will offer a few goats and some rice as fee. They will be given Gau Mutra (cow urine) and Tulsi water to drink. They will take Hindu vows. Then, they will share the mutton and rice (cooked from their offerings) in a small feast. This completes their reconversion. From then on, they will have a Tulsi plant in their homes, have pictures of Hindu gods on their walls, and celebrate Hindu festivals. They will pray only to Hindu gods.

Pradhan is happy. He’s done his job for the day. He explains the difference between a Hindu and a Christian. “They (Christians) eat cows. We (Hindus) worship cows.” Therefore, “people who eat cows should be given the same treatment that they give the cows.” Pradhan says Togadia has laid down the policy. “He has already announced that there is no place for Christians. If Christians don’t become Hindus, they have to go. We don’t care where they go. They must leave Orissa,” he says.

BUTWHAT’S the point in killing and driving a people out, merely to nudge the percentage of Hindus from near 95 percent to 100 percent? Dr Krishan Kumar, the young District Magistrate of Kandhamal, thinks it’s actually about jobs, land, and only then religion. Kumar has studied medicine (hence the Dr prefix), and was given overnight charge of Kandhamal when the Hindu militants began attacking the Christians.

Kumar works out of a suite in the Circuit House at Phulbani, the district headquarters of Kandhamal. He has gone two days without sleep during the crisis. After Saraswati’s murder, he was told of the killing of a pastor in Raikia, an area in Kandhamal where the Christians outnumber the Hindus. He drove with a full company of the Rapid Action Force and a contingent of the Orissa State Disaster Management Agency. “It took me 11 hours for a journey that normally takes two hours. There were so many trees cut and laid across the road,” Kumar says.

He explains why he thinks jobs are the first cause of war in Kandhamal. He says his administration has 1,000 cases of fake caste certificates to investigate. Apparently, many non-tribals, which in Kandhamal usually mean the dalits, have submitted fake certificates showing them as members of the Kandha tribe.

The certificates enable government employment in the reserved quota. This is possible because the law enables job reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) even though they have converted to Christianity, while the Scheduled Castes (SC) are deprived of this quota if they convert to Christianity or another religion. This is a principal reason why the Dalit Christians are seeking reservations as well.

Government jobs are precious in Kandhamal, since there are barely any private outlets offering employment. So, the STs seethe with resentment against the SCs over jobs. Often, they fight. Since the STs are Hindus and the SCs form the bulk of the Christians, the battles can easily take a religious turn.

Then, there is land. “The tribals have been around forever. They are the original dwellers here. They never had to prove that they owned the land. I mean, why should they? In the early 1900s, the tribal land opened up. Pattas, a certificate indicating ownership of land, began to be given out. The tribes have a complex social structure. Within themselves, they had given land to neighbours for various reasons. When they had to prove ownership of land, they couldn’t. Others came in and the tribals couldn’t integrate with the market economy,” says Kumar. Loss of land could, therefore, be a cause for the fighting between the STs, who are Hindus, and the SCs, who are Christian.

A new dimension emerged in November 2007 when the Orissa Government said both the dalits and the tribals were part of one family, the Kui Samaj. Kui is the dialect spoken in Kandhamal, and the government intended to bring the dalits and the tribals on a common platform using language as glue. More importantly, it intended to give dalits job reservation and other social advantages that the tribes were given, even if they had converted to Christianity. The tribals objected strongly.

Into this mix enters religion. “Nobody fights over spirituality,” says Kumar. The war is over theology and the power that comes with organised religion. Kandhamal area has a history of 300 years of missionary work. Among the first Christians to work here were Catholics and Lutherans from Madhya Pradesh. These foreign missionaries set up schools and provided medical facilities. In those days, malaria was a major killer. The missionaries would go house to house, and help people recover from malaria and other diseases.

The core appeal of the Christian missionary is this: he helps the locals in distress when the authorities or the RSS are not around. Thus, the motivation for a Hindu to take to Christianity in the past may have been a better life. The Church provided access to better education and improved health. Some of the earliest recoveries from malaria may have helped create the myth of faith healing as well. The concept of miracle cures is a powerful attraction, and many Hindus who convert to Christianity in Kandhamal say they do so because a member of the family was healed when they began to pray to Jesus.

Money and work may be possible motivation as well. Narmada Digal, the woman who stood her ground in her razed home, is convinced. Narmada became a Christian in 1998, when her daughter Subhadra was healed. “She had a peculiar fever, which didn’t go even though I prayed to the Hindu gods. One day my husband told me about a pastor who said we should pray to Jesus. I did, and my daughter was cured. Why should I not be a Christian?” she asks.

Narmada’s husband Goverdhan Digal, who carried the pastor’s message, was employed with the local post office. He often had to take his daughter Subhadra for medical check-ups. One day, Goverdhan’s boss told him he had taken enough days off and had to report for work. Goverdhan had to take his daughter for another check-up. He told his boss that he would be by his daughter’s side. He lost his job. His travails soon reached the pastor’s ears. Damodar, the pastor, talked to Goverdhan about Jesus, the Bible and Christianity.

Goverdhan and his family converted to Christianity. They were given a Bible, and told that Jesus is the only God who gave his life for others. After six months, they were baptised. Narmada says Goverdhan was paid Rs 800 the first month, and Rs 2,000 for six months afterward. Stories like those of Goverdhan and Narmada have helped the Church to spread.

Today, there are around 1,500 churches and congregations in the 2,515 villages of Kandhamal. Between 500 and 750 churches are solid structures, made of marble, wood, cement and even glass. There are close to two lakh Christians in Kandhamal, a quarter of the population. The Catholic Church has a big presence. And among the Protestants, the most active denominations are the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Church of North India, and the Church of South India.

TO A man like Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, the rise of the Church would’ve been an insult. To his followers, Saraswati was the incarnation of Parashurama, the first warrior saint in Hindu mythology. Legend has it that Parashurama had killed the Haihaya-Kshatriyas, enemies of the Brahmins, on earth 21 times for their arrogance. Saraswati saw himself as the saint who would vanquish the Christians. Saraswati was a member of what are now called the Most Backward Castes. He was a government employee and quit his job in unpleasant circumstances. Apparently, there were some “irregularities” though the nature of the irregularity is not known precisely. There isn’t much on what he did afterward, except for unconfirmed reports of a police case for murder and criminal conspiracy.

Sometime in the 1960s, the RSS leadership summoned Saraswati. The RSS had begun to implement its plan of working in the most backward areas of India, unlike the Marxists who had begun to work in the industrial townships. The then RSS Orissa head Bhupendra Kumar Basu chose Kandhamal for Saraswati.

From all accounts, Saraswati was a driven man. He pursued his Christian foes with all his energy. By 1969, he had begun his ashram in Chakapada, where he is now buried. The ashram has between 300 and 400 students. All of them are Hindus and trained to be fulltime RSS activists. Saraswati also enlisted volunteers for the renovation of several small and dilapidated temples. And, to thwart the Christians, he worked on the lifestyle of the tribals.

He began to hold satsangs, an assembly of people with the guru who listen to and talk about issues and the truth. Saraswati began to talk of the alcoholic ways of the tribals and started a campaign against beef. His followers say he helped restore healthy lifestyles among the tribals. Coincidentally, the Christians were doing exactly that among their followers.

By 1988, Saraswati opened another ashram, for girls, at Jalesapata (where he would be killed), 150 km from his first ashram. This became controversial and questions were asked of the ethics of a man teaching young women in a residential school. By then, Saraswati had simplified his work into reconverting tribals who became Christians, and protecting cows.

In December 2007, major clashes erupted between Hindus and the Christians when Saraswati ordered his followers to demolish an arch that the Christians had erected on government land in front of a church. The Christians said it was for Christmas and they would take the arch down in a day or two. Saraswati didn’t wait. After his men pulled the arch down, Saraswati drove down to see it. He passed by a village where the Christians outnumbered the Hindus.

Some Christians in the village stopped Saraswati’s car and pulled him out. Stones were also pelted at him. One of Saraswati’s assistants called friends in the VHP and told them “Babaji ko maar diya (they’ve got Babaji)”. Saraswati’s men set upon the Christians on a scale similar to that of the current attacks.

AFTER THE December riots, Saraswati gave an interview, probably his last, to the RSS publication Organiser. He said, “With their numbers increasing, Christians forcefully took away Hindu girls and forced the neo-converts to eat beef.” He said the Christians “threw the mortal remains of cows on temples”. Saraswati said that the Christian missionaries were “serving medicines claiming them to be the prasad of Jesus”. He said the “Church and Christians erect a small prayer house in the middle of a Hindu locality, close to a temple, and after a few years of missionary activity, transform the prayer house into a big church”.

Towards the end of the interview, Saraswati said foreign money was being pumped into churches in India to erect “insolent symbols of the church which offend the eye, the heart and the mind of Hindus”. He spoke of “towering Jesus Christ statues obstructing the skyline, towering steeples with a cross atop, which is visible from a long distance, new and big churches close to old and popular temples”. He called for a constitutional ban on conversion of Hindus to “Abrahamic faiths” and warned that “Christians in India must understand fast that they cannot be protected by the US State Department writing its annual vituperative anti- Hindu reports on religious freedom and human rights”. He added: “Christians can be protected only by the goodwill of the majority Hindus in whose midst they have to live.” These thoughts Saraswati drilled into the Kandha tribals.

The tribals of Orissa are a tough people. They gave Ashoka the Great the fight of his life. Ashoka invaded Kalinga in 261BC. There was no king to oppose him, but the tribals fought against him. Ashoka won the Kalinga War, but 110,000 people died in battle. Ashoka never fought again and took to Buddhism.

It is this lineage that Rupesh Kanhar, 19, comes from. Rupesh and his friends are part of an RSS war council meeting on August 28 in the jungles near Gopingiya village. He passed out of Saraswati’s ashram in Chakapada in 2006. He lives near the jungle and is a fierce member of the Kandha tribe. There are 15 people in the meeting including Rupesh’s friend Bhimraj. They are working out plans to attack Christians. The meeting concludes that they will not kill Christians, but scare them into leaving Kandhamal.

Rupesh recites the RSS prayer fluently. He hasn’t killed a Christian, but he has burned some houses down. In a few hours, Rupesh and his friends will prepare to attack. Some of them would have downed plenty of liquor by then. The group will assemble at 9 pm, about 200 of them. They will have axes, swords and machetes, and torches. They will tie red threads around their wrists, so tight in some cases that they leave red marks on the skin, and they will anoint each other’s foreheads with vermillion. They have colour codes for the headbands. If it’s an ST versus SC battle, the headband will be red. Tonight, it’s a Hindu versus Christian fight, so it will be a saffron headband.

Rupesh and his group will march until past midnight, scaring Christians and sending them rushing into the jungles at night. It’s a daily routine in Kandhamal, the Hindu militants shouting slogans and conducting torchlight marches. A conch is blown. It’s the signal to attack. The slogans come rushing: “Vande Mataram”, “Jai Shri Ram”, “Om, Shanti Om”, “Hindu Rakhiya, Momo Dikhya (Save Hindus, Save our Culture)”. When 200 people say them, even the deaf can hear.


BUT INTROSPECTION respects no ideology. Even the best efforts of the RSS and the VHP can’t stop a change of heart. Vijay Pradhan, 35, is hiding in Raikia. For eight years, Vijay Pradhan says, he was an active RSS worker. He worked with Saraswati and conducted several reconversions. He also trained many RSS workers in the art of reconverting Christians to Hinduism. “I taught people what I was taught. That I must serve the country by fighting the Muslim and Christian religions, which are foreign to us. Our culture had to be saved. Then, one day a young pastor told me about Jesus. I was surprised at his courage in accosting me, but I was curious. This man told me that I could have eternal life with Jesus,” says Pradhan.

The one-time RSS worker says he was confused after this encounter. “I began searching for Jesus because I was intrigued by what I was told about him. On January 26, 1994, I challenged the creator. I asked why there are so many religions if there is one creator. I said whoever you are, I need to know you by name. I threatened that I would turn atheist if the Creator didn’t show himself. I couldn’t sleep at night. At 4.30 am, as I was getting ready for yoga, I saw a human-like figure. There was plenty of light. A voice said, ‘I am the one you are looking for,’” says Pradhan.

He says his thought process changed after this. He began spreading the gospel and going to church. “The RSS workers came to me and asked me why I had converted. They asked me how much money I was given. I used to ask people the same things. But I wasn’t paid. The RSS searched for me. I had to hide in the jungles. As long as there is trouble, I will hide,” he says.

Pradhan says only those who are called by Jesus are the true converts. “Only the attraction of God can make them that. Hindus become Christians, they are never made into Christians. The reconversions by the VHP and the RSS are false. They are conducting a political war in the name of God.”

The state is, of course, missing in all this. The law in Orissa states that religious conversions are allowed. However, people must seek the permission of the District Magistrate. The District Magistrate will enquire into it. If he is convinced that there is no bribe or threat involved, he permits the conversion. Officially, there are only two conversions shown in Kandhamal since 1961.

The retreat of the state is an accepted part of life in Kandhamal. People can tell you who the RSS pramukh is, or who the area pastor is. But they wouldn’t know the names of the Sarpanch, or the police head. Soon, they may not need the state. On the night of September 1, there were two meetings in the Raikia relief camp. The Inspector General of Police chaired a peace meeting with 21 officials and several Christian seniors. Then, a group of young Christian men met separately. They declared pride in two villages of Raikia: Gundhani and Gamandi. Christians mainly populate these villages. Yet, they have been untouched so far. Apparently, because the Christians there have put together a few home-made bombs and repulsed at least one attack by Hindu militants.

The young men said these villages were the pride of Christians and that they had shown the way. They said they needed to arm themselves so that they could fight the Hindu militants. Some pastors objected. They said Christianity doesn’t teach violence. They are not sure if they were heard. •

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 36, Dated Sept 13, 2008

Kndhamal Riots had a plan...

Kandhamal rioters not only had a plan but
ample time too
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

The rioters of Kandhamal were not simply reacting to the murder of their leader, as the Sangh Parivar in the state has maintained.

Had it not been for a plan, and inexplicable inertia on the part of the state government and district authorities, the killers would not have had the time to arrange for petrol and diesel to torch 255 villages housing thousands of houses and over 150 Christian institutions. They came fully armed with batons, swords, tridents, even pistols and bombs in some cases.

They blocked all entry points behind them. The district forest authorities have already counted over 500 full-grown trees the radicals felled to obstruct vehicular movement into the villages. Actual numbers would touch 1,000, with hundreds of trees still blocking village roads across Kandhamal.

The rioters had obviously worked through the night of August 23 and the whole of August 24 to attack the villages. It’s hard to believe that the local police and intelligence did not know of these plans, says Michael Naik, a former state government employee, who blames the state government for allowing the situation to go out of hand.

At one point, the district collector of Kandhamal was even asked to withdraw his orders of lathicharge on a mob that attacked an old church in Phulbani, the district headquarters, soon after the violence broke out. It is further learnt that the mobs in several cases announced their arrival, as though assured of support. They struck temple chimes and blew whistles to indicate they were coming. “If we could hear all this, why couldn’t the police? ” asks Sister Ratna, a missionary from G Udaygiri block.

In many places, the rioters left their marks behind - saffron flags, which can still be spotted in the vicinity of razed churches. It’s hard to believe the authorities didn’t know of all this. Even secular-minded Hindus in the area doubt the role of local police in aiding the August violence. It was after massive damage had already been done that the state government shifted out the Kandhamal SP and then the inspector in-charge of Raikia police station, where seven murders cases have been registered.

As of now, 223 people have been rounded up for rioting and killing in 255 tribal villages; only 24 of them have been sent to judicial custody, while the rest remain under interrogation. Accountability for 17 officially listed murders is yet to be fixed, as minor cases of violence continue to be reported. The new man in at Raikia police station says, “In a 50 km radius, we have just one police station with 10 personnel each. Mobs usually come in thousands and are mostly well-built tribal people. We are hard-pressed for manpower and vehicles.”

While investigations drag on, people blame vested political interests in the area for the mess. Kandhamal is a Hindu-dominated belt, with Christians comprising 7 per cent of the population. Two of the three assembly seats here are with Hindus from the BJP and BJD ruling combine. Phulbani MP Sugrib Singh also, it is learnt, is a convert Hindu from Christianity. He is yet to visit Phulbani after the recent violence.

Local police hint at the role of radical organisations like Banwas Kalyan Samiti (supported by the VHP) in the Kandhamal violence, but don’t say anything openly. Even the state chief minister, home secretary and DGP have remained silent on why violence was allowed to rage.

Kandhamal Christians under ‘threat’ to convert
Aditi Tandon writes from Kandhamal

The anti-Christian flame in Kandhamal may have become dimmer for a while, but it is far from blown out. Fuelling it is the issue of conversion, which has become a determinant of people’s lives in this part of the country.

Several Christians in 11 blocks of the tribal districts are said to have been “forcibly converted” as Hindus in the past 17 days of mayhem; the rest say they are facing a choice between life and faith.

“The radicals have told us that we can live here only as Hindus. They are giving deadlines to people to convert or be prepared to face the worst. They asked my family to fall in line by 8 pm on September 3. When we did not agree to convert, they razed our properties,” Jitender Digal, a refugee at Bijaya High School camp in Raikia block, told The Tribune.

In Kandhamal, minorities furnish proof of how “force and fear” is being used to deter people from their faith. Lalu Naik of Balliguda block shows this correspondent a letter whose text, he says, the radicals have framed for the Christians to follow. Signed by Lalu’s father Babulal Naik and 10 members of his family, the letter reads: “Shrijukta Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) mahodaya (Respected VHP official), I was a Christian until now, but I voluntarily want to embrace Hinduism.”

The sample, claim refugees, is meant to facilitate Christians’ conversion to Hindu religion. Such letters have been floating around for a fortnight, with covert but stern messages to Christians to convert. The first targets in this “war” of conversion are pastors, now hiding in the relief camps by thousands. Three of them - Samuel Naik, Akhar Digal and Dibya Digal from Raikia and Udaygiri blocks - have already lost their lives in the recent violence. In each case, the killers first asked the victims if they were ready to become Hindus, say relatives.

Samuel Naik’s son Ramesh, who witnessed killings of his father and grandmother, recounts, “They gave three warnings to my father. When he refused to abandon his faith, they slaughtered him. My grandmother met the same fate.” Ramesh is now hiding at the G Udaygiri camp, while his mother Upojini Naik is at the Raikia relief camp, where over 200 pastors are seeking refuge.

Among them are Subodh Naik, Bijay Pradhan, Subodh Digal and Ulkeshan Naik, who claim being on the radicals’ hit list. “They want us to join them and prove our loyalty by attacking churches and killing Christians. They have threatened to eliminate us if we don’t listen to them.” Many pastors are missing or feared dead.

As for forcible conversions, they are mostly reported to be happening in G Udaygiri, Raikia, Tikabali, Chakapad and Balliguda blocks, with Christians now demanding a separate district. Ashok Behera, a camper at Tikabali, says, “We want a district with a Christian collector, a Christian SP and a Christian block development officer. We have lost faith in the system as close to 2,000 Christians have been converted.”

VHP leaders for their part remain adamant as ever, claiming they will “do everything possible to protect the Hindu faith in Orissa.” Kabi Chandra Nath, who assumed charge of the Jalaspeta ashram after Laxmananda Saraswati’s death, goes to the extent of defending the radical stand, saying, “We are not converting anyone. We are simply bringing misguided followers back to the fold.” Never mind the cost.

(The Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal have been at the forefront, mobilizing the crowds to arson, killing and looting. So far more than more than 100 Christians have lost their lives, of which one man and another women were burned alive; 317 villages attacked, 4014 homes and buildings razed, approximately 40,000 have fled their homes, 13,000 persons are in refugee camps and 10,000 persons are still hiding in the jungles; priests and nuns were paraded naked through streets, nuns were raped in public and a number of churches, schools, convents, hostels and welfare centers razed, the forum reminded in its letter.)

Who's the Real Hindu?

Who's the Real Hindu?

Karan Thapar

Does the VHP have the right to speak for you or I? Do they reflect our views? Do we endorse their behaviour? They call themselves the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, but who says they represent all of us? This Sunday morning, I want to draw a clear line of distinction between them and everyone else. My hunch is many of you will agree.

Let me start with the question of conversion — an issue that greatly exercises the VHP. I imagine there are hundreds of millions of Hindus who are peaceful, tolerant, devoted to their faith, but above all, happy to live alongside Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Jews. If any one of us were to change our faith how does it affect the next man or woman? And even if that happens with inducements, it can only prove that the forsaken faith had a tenuous and shallow hold. So why do the VHP and its unruly storm troopers, the Bajrang Dal, froth at the mouth if you, I or our neighbours convert? What is it to do with them?

Let me put it bluntly, even crudely. If I want to sell my soul — and trade in my present gods for a new lot — why shouldn’t I? Even if the act diminishes me in your eyes, it’s my right to do so. So if thousands or even millions of Dalits, who have been despised and ostracised for generations, choose to become Christian, Buddhist or Muslim, either to escape the discrimination of their Hindu faith or because some other has lured them with food and cash, it’s their right.

Arguably you may believe you should ask them to reconsider, although I would call that interference, but you certainly have no duty or right to stop them. In fact, I doubt if you are morally correct in even seeking to place obstacles in their way. The so-called Freedom of Religion Acts, which aim to do just that, are, in fact, tantamount to obstruction of conversion laws and therefore, at the very least, questionable.

However, what’s even worse is how the VHP responds to this matter. Periodically they resort to violence including outright murder. What happened to Graham Staines in Orissa was not unique. Last week it happened again. Apart from the utter and contemptible criminality of such behaviour, is this how we Hindus wish to behave? Is this how we want our faith defended? Is this how we want to be seen? I have no doubt the answer is no. An unequivocal, unchanging and ever-lasting NO!

The only problem is it can’t be heard. And it needs to be. I therefore believe the time has come for the silent majority of Hindus — both those who ardently practice their faith as well as those who were born into it but may not be overtly religious or devout — to speak out. We cannot accept the desecration of churches, the burning to death of innocent caretakers of orphanages, the storming of Christian and Muslim hamlets even if these acts are allegedly done in defence of our faith. Indeed, they do not defend but shame Hinduism. That’s my central point.

I’m sorry but when I read that the VHP has ransacked and killed I’m not just embarrassed, I feel ashamed. Never of being hindu but of what some Hindus do in our shared faith’s name.

This is why its incumbent on Naveen Patnaik, Orissa’s Chief Minister, to take tough, unremitting action against the VHP and its junior wing, the Bajrang Dal. This is a test not just of his governance, but of his character. And I know and accept this could affect his political survival. But when it’s a struggle between your commitment to your principles and your political convenience is there room for choice? For ordinary politicians, possibly, but for the Naveen I know, very definitely not.

So let me end by saying: I’m waiting, Naveen. In fact, I want to say I’m not alone. There are hundreds of millions of Hindus, like you and me, waiting silently — but increasingly impatiently. Please act for all of us.