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.