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Christians in Kandhamal (Orissa) attacked

In a span of a month - but particularly the first weeks - the Bajrang Dal-led mobs officially killed 31 people - although unofficially it is admitted that several hundred were slaughtered - they looted and burned some 4.000 houses, and forced 50.000 Christians to run for their lives, - first into the forest, and eventually into refugee camps, where many of them still remain, fearful of returning to their homes. Around 270 churches and prayer halls have been vandalised and burned, and 65 colleges, schools and Christian institutions now lay in ruins. This has been the largest persecution of Christians in India since independence.

Murder of religious leader set off attacks

The immediate excuse VHP and Bajrang Dal gave to justify these attacks was the murder of the 82-year old VHP activist and religous leader Swami Lakshamananda Saraswati, who had worked in Kandhamal for the last 40 years, re-converting Christians to Hinduism, hinduizing the tribals and generally countering the proselytising activities of the Christian missionaries. ¨

The swami was gunned down in his ashram together with four of his aides - one of whom was a woman - on the 23. August 2008. The Maoists took responsability for the murders, leaving a note behind explaining why they had executed the 'fascist' swami. The police announced that the Maoists has murdered the swami, but this explanation did not suit VHP whose leaders instead claimed that it was the Christians who were behind the murder, and who therefore should be held responsible.

The Orissa government allowed the funeral process to pass across Kandhmahal district, and this procession became the starting point of the well-organized terror unleashed on the Christians led by the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres. Mobs of 50-100 people started roaming around in the villages with knives, swords, sticks and petrol 'taking revenge', whipping up hatred and spreading destruction.

Slow response from Orissa government

What has surprised - and dismayed - observers is that it took the Orissa state government over one month to reestablish a semblance of law and order in Kandhamal district. The Union government in Delhi immediately sent troops to be deployed in the troubled area, but there seemed to be a total unwillingness on part of the Orissa government to crack down on VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres and the mobs they led.

The Orissa police force was passively looking at the mayhem, doing nothing to protect the victims nor did they arrest any of the rioters or the organisers of the riots. Only gradually was it possible for the troops to stop the worst excesses, and only by mid-October had some kind of 'peace' returned to Kandhamal. Very few observers and journalists could get into the area while the VHP and Bajrang Dal mobs were in control, thus eyewitness accounts and first hand reports of what actually happened are few (as of late November 2008).

Only converts may return

The Christian refugees in camps report that not all non-Chrisitian villagers attacked them. The overall impression is that only a smaller section of the Khond tribals took part in the looting and the burning led by the Bajrang Dal, and that there were Hindu neighbours who helped the Christian dalits by storing their possessions, trying to safeguard their cattle etc.

But the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres - together with some like-minded tribal leaders - apparently still hold sway over many of the Kandhamal villages, and they impose clear conditions on the returnees: You can return provided 1) you convert to Hinduism, and 2) you do not initiate any court cases against us. They envisage a Kandhamal as a pure Hindu land cleansed of 'foreign faiths' with the saffron flag proudly flying atop the looted houses and burned churches.

Fear of returning

Some Christians have given in to the pressure and converted to Hinduism to be be able to return to their houses and fields, but the situation varies from place to place. According to interviews made in the camps, people have had different experiences regarding returning home - now two months after the mayhem.

There are those who have returned to their village without feeling threatened;

Others, however, do not feel welcome in their village and prefer to stay in the camps, but visit their fields every day;

Some feel really threatened in their village, and do not dare to go back, thus they have no choice but to remain in the camps;

Others do not want to go back, but have neither connections nor money to go anywhere else, so they stay on in the camps, in spite of the fact that the camps are rudimentary and badly equipped, and simply miserable to live in (sanitation-, water-, health-, school- and saftety-wise).

A number has quietly left the camps and moved in with relatives in towns in Orissa, or they have left for other states, such as Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to start a new life.

Investigations first step towards reconciliation

The district collector and district magistrate in Kandhamal have made sincere efforts to ensure that the Christians going back to their homes are not only safe, but actually get integrated into their villages again. A number of peace and reconciliation meetings are being organised in the villages to achieve this.

There are reports from the refugee camps that individual and collective FIRs (First Information Reports) are now being filed with the police with the names of the perpetrators (who often were known to the victims), although it is not known to what extent FIRs actually have been filed. Perhaps not all the perpetrators of the violence and destruction in Kandhaml will go scot-free after all, - although there is a long way from a FIR to a conviction. FIRs are also a precondition for a victim to be awarded compensation. The Christian Churches in India have been demanding that the state pay compensation to the victims, and also pay for the rebuilding of the churches and Christian insitutions, that have been destroyed. VHP and Bajrang Dal have strongly opposed such compensation.

The violence against the Christians in Kandhamal has been raised by many foreign governments on a number of occasions, which has been felt as an immense embarrasment by the central government in Delhi. The European Union has condemned the incident in Kandhamal and urged the government to uphold the right of freedom of religion, protect the Christians in Orissa and to ensure that the victims of the recent attacks are able to return to their homes. A EU delegation will visit Orissa in December 2008 to study the situation and make recommendations. After elements close to Vishwa Hindu Parishad subsequently have been accused of being involved in terror bombings in India, there have been calls for an inquiry into the activities of the VHP in the UK, where it is registered as a charity.