We have called it the biggest atrocity in the Indian subcontinent on the Christian community since the tragedy of the West coast Catholics who were taken into captivity and marched to Seringapatam.

The question facing us today is; have we as Christians, now remembering Kandhamal, ever had empathy for other victims of targeted religious violence? Do we see the political and social linkages that exist even in recent history of targeted violence in India? Do we see the connect between the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, Kanpur and Bhilai, the earlier killings and forced disappearances in the Punjab, the scores of terrible massacres and pogroms against Muslims even before 1992 and the demolition of the Babri mosque, and certainly the many more after that?

The current phase of lynching, “goli maro sa**** ko, the fake FIRs, the lying charge sheets, and the bigoted magistracy are the common links. They trace the route of the virus of communalism in Indian politics, and in the criminal justice system.

Many rulings of the Supreme court in recent months have sent us reeling, shaking our faith in the system. The media was never on our side, really. Today it is ranged against us, a part of the battery of weapons marshalled by the religious nationalist forces.

The Education policy, the food policies, the environment policies, each one of them seems weaponised.

The impunity generated by the Corona pandemic lockdown, and the consequent absence of civil society on the streets and in the courts, has aggravated the environment of targeted hate and violence. The targets are not only Muslims, but also Christians in most of the major states and the National Capital Territory. This is complemented with the insufficient, even suppressed, data on crime recorded in the country.

Thousands of decent journalists in the Covid economic crash have also severely constrained accurate collection of data from the field about the persecution of religious minorities, especially of the Christian community. Even in normal times, the police were loath to register cases. Communally motivated crime is either unreported, or under reported. The victims have no recourse to the normal systems of reporting to the police, and severely restricted access to courts for relief.

The consummately organized hate campaign against the Muslim population, beginning mid-December 2019, and erupting violently in mid-February 2020 in the North eastern suburbs of Delhi has raised structural questions on the security of all religious minorities in the country, with the Christian community questioning how safe they are if the Muslims are so brutally targeted.  Islamophobia reigns. And Christo phobia is as potent.

In the violence that was unleashed in Delhi, nine mosques were burnt to the ground, as were academic institutions and the small shops that were the economic stay of the Muslims. Thousands were rendered homeless. At least 43 Muslims and 10 Hindus were killed. Front-line lieutenants of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party called upon their followers to shoot the ‘@#$*! %’, a thinly veiled targeting of Muslims and activists protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the government.

Reports of the Delhi Minority Commission, Amnesty International and others detail them in shocking minutiae.

The Christian community perhaps had supported the citizen agitation against the CAA, particularly the protest at Shaheen Bagh, the site of the protest by women which triggered over 250 similar agitations across the country by women and youth. But not as vigorously as Sikhs, Dalit and Tribal people also joined the protests.

Alas, not many come to our aid, or join our movements against persecution, for the rights of Dalit Christians.

In the year 2019, the Christian community in India continued to face incidents of targeted violence and hate crimes. Incidents collated by the Religious Liberties Commission of the Evangelical fellowship of India, the United Christian Forum Helpline and  Persecution Relief  showed over 370 cases of violence against Christians during the year. These included violence, intimidation or harassment against worshippers and priests, as also attacks of various intensity on church buildings and house churches in villages.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India maintained its position as the worst offender in the persecution of Christians. Compared to the 2018 high of 132 incidents, anti-Christian violence in Uttar Pradesh reduced somewhat to 86 incidents with the focus shifting from the eastern districts around Jaunpur which had been targeted in the past.

Disturbingly the state’s Law Commission, in November 2019, drafted a controversial report recommending heavy penalties of up to seven years in prison to persons deemed to be violating a proposed new law against conversions. The cover page graphic and illustrations of the 268 paged report are taken from www.hindujagruiti.org, the website of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, whose explicit goal is to establish a Hindu Rashtra.

The situation has remained grim after the Covid Lockdown. Targeted violence against Christians seems to continue unabated. Most distressing is the massive ostracisation and misuse of state machinery in rural India.  All too many cases have been recorded by Church groups despite the national lockdown being in place.

In most incidents, Christians were summoned to village meetings when they refused to participate in religious rituals that violate their conscience. They were called on the pretext of working out a compromise but were instead threatened to either comply with the diktats of the village council or face consequences. When the Christians refused to go against their own beliefs, they were physically attacked by mobs, often 50-strong.

Jharkhand, which had seen two cases of lynching of Christians in 2018 during the rash of similar cases against Muslims by cow vigilantes, saw four major assault cases in May alone. Though no one was killed, women were molested. On May 25, local authorities had banned Christians in Pundiguttu village from getting rations from the government outlet.

At a village council meeting at Pundiguttu village on May 27, 2020, the following decisions were taken: Christians should revert to their previous religion within a period of five days or else face the consequences; they will not be allowed to use the village watering well, or to buy from the local shops. In fact, they were not allowed to talk with non-Christians, and told they would be fined Rs. 5000/- if they broke these rules.

This is a call to our community, of course, but also to civil society. Targeted violence against Christians goes unreported, unseen, unrepresented. The victims cry alone in this sectioned environment. Only a collective, united struggle by all communities and the powerful civil society can stand up to the militant political communal elements. This alone will also persuade the Institutions of State to realise their duty to an India where people of all persuasions, all communities live not just in harmony, but in fraternity, as equal citizens. A secular India, as some of us call it.

The post Kandhamal: Brotherhood of victims appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post EXCLUSIVE: 10 years later Kandhamal Carnage Survivors still await Justice appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The perpetrators were, in large part, allegedly, cadres of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Today, many people have come back to the district. However, there are still some families who have not yet come back home.

They live in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and other parts of Odisha. There are still families who are internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in a rehabilitation colony, Shanti Nagar, near G Udayagiri in Kandhamal.

The victims of this violence had filed 3232 criminal cases against 11,000 perpetrators. But the police only registered 827 cases. Out of those cases the police closed 315 cases siting those as ‘lack of evidence’. Out of rest of 362 cases convictions were secured in only 78 cases! Out of 30 murder cases, conviction happened only in two cases.

The Supreme Court had instructed the government of Odisha to reopen those 315 cases in 2016. But nothing has been done in local courts. Will the guilty ever be punished?

This documentary on Kandhamal titled Innocents Imprisoned: Kandhamal’s Travesty of Justice was released in New Delhi on August 23, 2018 – to mark the 10th anniversary of the Kandhamal carnage:
 

Like clockwork around the same time, in the southern state of Karnataka where the saffron flag had flown on the state’s assembly for the first time in the previously held elections, 57 Churches were attacked systematically in Mangalore, Udipi and other parts of the state. The attacks, thoroughly documented by Justice Saldanha in his report, on an Inquiry requested by Transparency International and PUCL, Karnataka, presents a dangerous tale of how the highest echelons of those in power, assisted by some communally minded policemen, not only allowed mobs to attack Christians at prayer and desecrated their places of worship, but worse also systematically destroy any evidence of the attack as soon as they had taken place.

Independent media were also made targets and other sections, wooed through monetary considerations by the state government, were complicit or silent. Action against the perpetrators has not taken place with the state government in a malafide action simply withdrawing all criminal cases against the RSS, VHP, BD and BJP. The officially appointed Justice BK Somasekhara Commission that released its report in January 2011, has been an eye-wash.

You can watch a film on the Kandhamal carnage here:
 

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Tribal Leader Shyam Patamjhi

See Press Clipping of local Odisha paper

Shyam Patamajhi was inspired by the Campaign for 'Tribal Self Rule' and 'Our Government in our Village' led by Late Dr. B.D. Sharma. In the year 1993 Shyam along with others leaders like Netra Manseth, Parasar Patamajhi and Salmon Bada Majhi had formed 'Pahadi Sangram Manch' (Struggle for Hill People) and continued the movements under the banner of that network of hill peoples demanding special status to backward Kandhamal district. During these mobilisations, they had organised a 'Pada Yatra' from the remote Kotagada area to Kandhamal  district headquarter joined with thousands of tribal and Dalits against exploitation of bureaucracy, businessmen, Sahukars, police and forest officials and demanded minimum basic facilities for the people of the area. They also organised a Cycle Rally from Kotagada to State headquarter Bhubaneswar (350 km) to place their demands before the Chief Minister at that time. 

In 1996, the Government through a notification declared the 'Kotagada Wildlife Sanctuary’, an act that threatened the homes of thousands of tribals and Dalits. They faced eviction from their homes, and the threat of loss of livelihood with the access to the land and forests in the Kotagada, Tumudibandh and Daringbadi blocks being affected.

It was against this anti-people move by the then government 'Pahadi Sangrami Manch', Banabasi Suraskhya Parisad and Adivasi Manch had organised mass agitations across Odisha in these districts which Shyam Patamajhi continued to play a vital and leading role. The continued mass agitation became more effective when around 60,000 voters of the area had boycotted to vote for Phulbani (Kandhamal) Parliamentary constituency in 1998 General Election. Shyam became more popular among the people in the movement against declaration of Sanctuary after the vote boycott. . He was elected as Panchayat Samiti Member from Subarngiri Gram Panchayat in the year of 2002 and due to his dynamic leadership and pro-people character he again elected as the Chairperson of Kotagada Panchayat Samiti, a post which he held till 2007.

This movement empowered, politically and otherwise the poor tribal and Dalits of Kotagada area that were finally able to assert their constitutional rights before government officials. Until this mobilisation and organisation, it was non-tribal, business communities and Sahukars (traders) who dominated the local Gram Panchayat elections, often taking decisions that went again the interests of the tribals. There was no representation or reservation of tribals in these local bodies until then. After the enactment of the Forest Rights Act (20065) Shyam, through his organisation, was actively engaged and motivating people for an assertion of forest rights through the exercise of their power and authority vested with the Gram Sabha under the act.

Even during the infamous targeting of Christians during the communal pogrom in the  Kandhamal district in 2008, Shyam Patamajhi, played a pro-active role in helping to safe-guard the minorities of Kotagada area, openly challenging communal forces, an act that had infuriated the Sahukars and intruded trading communities. Due to his brave and dynamic leadership there was not a single incidence of communal attack on the minorities in the Kotagada area during 2007-2008.

Targeting his dynamic personality and leadership, after 2008, the police and administration allying with the traders lobby have tried to label him ‘Maoist’ and even lodged fake and fabricated cases against him. Though he was arrested in several cases, he was subsequently acquitted in all. With an objective to utilize his popularity for the sake of vote politics the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had even succeeded in absorbing him into the party to take advantage of his popularity and glorify his contribution towards tribal community before by-election of Kandhamal Parliamentary constituency in 2014-15. However, the influential non-tribal leaders of ruling party and some power hungry tribal leaders were not interested in giving a space to Shyam Patamajhi.

After the gruesome killing on the night of October 9, passersby found a dead body of Shyam Patamajhi lying near the market nearly 30 metres distance from a liquor shop. His dead body was under his motor cycle. The first impression locals got that he died in an accident. Soon after when the police were informed and evidence of brutal bashing (injuries) could be seen on face and his teeth were broken. Two of his hands were broken. Immediately locals made a criminal complaint of murder. Finally, the SDPO Baliguda reached the spot and sniffer dogs were brought to trace the murderer.  Today, there is widespread discussion about the motive behind the murder –allegations of the nexus between business community and vested political leaders are doing the rounds. However four suspected accused detained in connection with Shyam’s murder have been released after elected representatives exercised pressure on the police.

The people’s organisations like Banabasi Suraskhya Parisad and Adivasi Adhikar Andolan have decided to take the issue to street protests and fight for legal battle for ensuring justice to the killing of the mass leader. At this moment, the demand is for the immediate arrest of all culprits involved in this murder. The wider call is for one and all to to carry forward the unfinished work of deceased Shyam Patamajhi.

(The writer is Convener, Banabasi Surakshya Parishad, Kandhamal)

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The Google map route between Bhubaneswar and Kandhamal is deceptive: the 268.2 kilometres route that is supposed to technically be covered in five hours 39 minutes actually is far more arduous. And this inaccessibility has drastically affected the adequate coverage and interest in post-independent India’s worst ever anti-Christian violence that spanned two phases: December 2007 and August-September 2008.

This inaccessibility, as also the fact that those affected were tribal and Dalit Christians (unlike say the caste and class profile of those targeted in Mangaluru and Bengalaru), has also succeeded in dimming and blurring the gaze of concern and consistent spot-lighting on the targeted communal violence and its cruel, debilitating aftermath.

Before the 2008 rounds of brute bloodletting, in December 2007, we at Communalism Combat had fore-grounded the build-up to it in John Dayal’s powerful cover story Christmas Mourning. While the huge loss of life and property necessitated more attention and focus thereafter  – the violence post-August 25 had 93 people were killed, over 350 churches and worship places which belonged to the adivasi Christians and Dalit Christians destroyed, around 6,500 houses burnt or demolished, over 40 women subjected to rape, molestation and humiliation and several educational, social service and health institutions were destroyed and looted and more than 56,000 people were, in all, displaced — the signs had been there to see that December. If the warning signs had been heeded, arguably the violence of 2008 could have been avoided.

Eight to nine months before Kandhamal came under more brute attack, during the Christmas week of 2007, forces of Hindutva executed a series of coordinated and well-planned attacks on Christians and Christian institutions across the district while a callous and partisan administration looked the other way. While official figures claim that three people were killed, independent estimates state that the number of those dead is much higher, with several people still missing and many more injured. Over 500 homes, more than 70 church institutions and property worth lakhs of rupees was destroyed. More than 3,000 victims of the violence were housed in refugee camps where they are subjected to further torment and denied access to justice and equitable relief.

Less than a year after the 2008 violence at Kandhamal, the wily Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) de-linked himself from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), broke a long standing, eleven-year-old political alliance, and in that seemingly moral decision, cleverly washed off his and his administration’s responsibility and culpability in the targeted violence of 2008 and 2007. His victory in 2009 on his own strength then ensured his third consecutive term that now runs into his fourth, post 2014 elections in the state.

2007-2008

No Mercy: Age no bar

Kandhamal did not happen in isolation. In sustained and well planned attacks, Christians and Christian institutions and religious places were attacked by members and office bearers of various wings of Hindu supremacist and racist organisations (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-RSS/Vishwa Hindu Parishad-VHP, Bajrang Dal-BD) and BJP on the eve of Christmas 2007, forcing poor Dalit and tribal Christians to flee to forests. In February 2008, extremist left organisations wrote communications – which the state intelligence bureau accessed – declaring their intent vis-a-vis the Hindu rightwing organisations. From August 24, 2008 onwards after Swami Lakshmananda was killed in an attack on his ashram, a bloody and vengeful funeral procession covering 220 kilometres was organised and allowed by the state administration, taking his body in a motor cavalcade, in which Praveen Togadia, international general secretary of the VHP and BJP ministers from the state cabinet participated.

The hate-filled speeches inspired bloody mobs to attack and kill 93 persons and attack dozens of hamlets and villages on the way. Brutal rapes were also part of the sub-text: 50,000 were rendered refugees in their own land. There never was a fair and impartial investigation into those, still in the thousands, who are internally displaced.

Like clockwork around the same time, in Karnataka where BJP had been voted to power for the first time, 57 churches were attacked systematically in Mangalore, Udipi and other parts of the state. The attacks – thoroughly documented by Justice Saldanha in his report, on an inquiry requested by Transparency International and PUCL, Karnataka – tell a dangerous tale of how the highest echelons of those in power, assisted by some communally-minded policemen, not only allowed mobs to attack Christians at prayer and desecrated their places of worship, but worse, also systematically destroy any evidence of the attack as soon as they had taken place.

Independent media were also made targets and other sections of it, wooed through monetary considerations by the state government, were complicit or silent. No action was taken against the perpetrators as the state government, in a malafide action, simply withdrew all criminal cases against the perpetrators from the sangh parivar. The officially appointed Justice BK Somasekhara Commission that released its report in January 2011 was an eye-wash.

In Odisha, the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal’s report, 'Crying Justice', can be read here. The physical violence against Christians was accompanied by cultural manipulation in these areas. The silent work to Hinduise adivasis through religio-cultural mechanisms has been stepped up in the last three decades. People like Swami Aseemanand (Dangs, Gujarat), Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati (Kandhamal, Odisha), followers of Asaram Bapu (Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh), began their work in popularising Hindu gods and goddesses in the region. Today Chhattisgarh is another geographical region for sustained anti-Christian assaults.

Odisha, Karnataka and Gujarat have a history of targeted violence against the religious minorities clearly suggesting a deliberate complicity of the State in non-punishment of the perpetrators.

Impunity Against Mass Crimes

Agenda: Hindu Rashtra

The state-sponsored massacre in Gujarat in 2002 was followed by brute anti-Christian violence in Odisha and Karnataka in 2007-08. Did these outbreaks happen overnight or were they the culmination of an insidious build up of incidents of persecution, but worse, impunity by the State because the perpetrators were not punished?

Evidence gathered by this writer at the time showed how from October 1988 (Phulbani Odisha), 1989 (Kalahandi, Keonjhar and Phulbani), 1991 (Ganjam and Cuttack districts), 1983 (Balasore), the Church leadership had been appealing to the state administration and Union government authorities on the issues of mob attacks on Christians and their religious places. Worse, venomous hate speech by the leaders of these mobs though monitored by the state and central authorities were not prosecuted under Indian criminal law. Even closer to the date, from October 2003 onwards we, at Communalism Combat, had been warning about the build up by the sangh parivar in Odisha.

Why do we wait until it is too late?

Between the late eighties and 2002, the build-up in Gujarat at the societal and state level violated constitutional provisions and Indian criminal law. Yet we waited until the genocidal carnage that took 2,500 lives spread over 19 districts of the state before we acted/reacted. Selected censuses of Muslims and Christians (1996-1998), driving out Muslims after violent attacks in Randhikpur and Sanjeli (October 1998 — Welcome to Hindu Rashtra, Communalism Combat). Between 1998-1999 Christians and Christian institutions were targeted across the state of Gujarat. Remember the attacks on churches in the Dangs that led to a terror-filled Christmas in the Dangs in December 1998 when 16 churches were attacked and Christians were made to live in terror?

Swami Aseemanand was the leading perpetrator, his ashram a den for hate-spewing cadres. Dangs in south Gujarat is a district where Christians and their institutions have lived in terror since then.

The Shabri Kumbh here is held every year – a pretext for the sangh parivar’s continuing terror tactics through “re-conversion” and the land of tribals is being sold by a visceral state government to corporate media.

The violence against Christian minority communities in Odisha in August-October 2008 was not unexpected. Professor Angana Chatterjee had even told the United States’ Congressional Task Force on Religious Freedom in December 2008 (published in February 2009 issue of Communalism Combat):
 

Report on the Justice Struggle in Odisha (Kandhamals)

Case status of fast Track Court (03.03.09—to–01.12.10)
Complaints lodged—————————————————————–3232
Case registered———————————————————————828
Total Number of cases (Vi+No.Vi) committed to the court no-2———————277
Total Number of violence cases committed to the court-2—————————281
Total Number of No-Violence case committed to the court-2————————47
Number of case Acquitted (Violence case) ——————– ——————-128
Number of case Convicted (Violence case) —————————————-59
Number of case on pending trial (Violence case) ———————– —– —–44
ACQUITTAL & CONVICTION RATE.
Total Number of accused faced the trial—————————————–1556
Number of accused convicted —————————————————269
Number of accused acquitted ————————————————–1287
(Source: Father Advocate Dibakar Parichha, Justice Peace Development and Communications)

Plight of the Victims Today

At a refugee camp four years later

About 15,000 people, eight years down, are still living as refugees outside their villages. Survivors have been under threat not to return to their villages unless they agree to change their religion, withdraw cases against their attackers, and stop eating beef and Dalits stay within limitations imposed by the upper castes.

Out of 3,300 complaints filed by victims in the local police stations only 831 were registered (as First Information Reports – FIRs). Many cases have not been properly investigated and the accused not prosecuted. In other cases, shoddy police investigations have already created a crisis in the dispensation of justice.

There has been no action against the Odisha administration officials who failed to protect the lives of Christians and who allowed Hindu extremist mobs to move around the district with an organised and armed crowd and to engage in arson, burning, killing in the presence of police or those officials who allowed sangh parivar leaders like Pravin Togadia to enter the area and deliver hate speeches.

There have also been major lacunae in the administration of relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the mass violence. Improper identification and assessment of the houses as fully or partially damaged has been done, damaged houses have been left out of the lists, while lost or damaged household articles are not mentioned at all. Even the 837 families, who lost their houses during December 2007 violence, have not all got, any housing. The government had as part of the compensation package, promised only Rs 50,000 as compensation for fully damaged houses; still the actual disbursement till now has only been Rs 10,000. Out of 6,500 families which lost their houses 60 percent are yet to have a roof to shelter under, eight years later. Structural damage to schools, hospitals and offices has not been adequately, if at all, compensated.

The administration has not made any visible effort to support a revival of dignified livelihood of the victims, to prevent large-scale migration and pauperisation of victim families, or to bring children who were forced to drop out back to school.

The long-standing problem of landlessness and land alienation of the Dalits and adivasis has been completely ignored. There have been almost no efforts to provide land rights to landless survivors who are facing difficulties to get a shelter after they lost their houses during violence.

Tomorrow's Citizens

In both 2007 and 2008, the state in Odisha was responsible for the violation of Article 14 and 21 and 25 of the Indian Constitution and the situation in Odisha is reflective of an absolute breakdown of the rule of law and constitutional governance.

Prayer houses of the minority community had been burnt, a 'nun' was molested and raped while police personnel watched and the entire law and order situation had completely collapsed.

The story of young Rajani Majhi of Padampur, Kanya Ashram, Bargarh, was particularly gory. She was thrown in fire and was burnt to death. The nun was raped in public on August 25, 2008 at 'K. Nuagaon' village under Baliguda police station.

It was not possible for these crimes to have been committed without the open and tacit support of the district administration and the state government. The criminals are reported to be activists of the Bajrang Dal which is a youth wing of sangh parivar which enjoys the patronage and a symbiotic relationship with the political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was, until 2009, a coalition partner in the present government. The entire exercise of burning churches and savage killing of innocent people from the minority community has been masterminded by rightwing Hindu organisations. However, the state government as a whole supported these acts.

After the first bout of violence in December 2007, the Naxalites had reportedly written a letter threatening Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati with his life. This is in the possession and knowledge of the state administration. Yet, the state of Odisha, its chief minister, home minister, collector and SP of Kandhamal did nothing to control the anticipated fallout of the violence following the killing of the Swami. Officers of the state intelligence bureau, Odisha shared the letter with this author in May 2008. Excerpt:
 

When this threat was in their knowledge and the Maoist/Naxalite outfits claimed open and public credit for the massacre of the Swami, the state of Odisha by remaining silent and allowing its coalition partner the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) and ministers, their sister organisations like the Bajrang Dal (BD) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to spin their own tale on who was responsible for the violence, amounted to nothing short of barefaced and open collusion in the violence against tribal Christians and Dalit Christians in the Kandhamals. The culpability of the entire administration is shameful and there for any reasonable person to see.

Since December 2007, despite pressure from the BJP, Bajrang Dal and the VHP six platoons of the CRPF had been stationed at Kandhamal. These paramilitary central forces could have been immediately used for the protection of life and property. But their failure to act was because in law the collector (district magistrate) is empowered to issue the command to enlist their support. The command was not issued by the collector as a deliberate act of collusion in the violence and atrocities.

The state government failed in its role to observe its constitutional duties as laid down under Article 163-165 of the Indian Constitution where it is responsible to the governor for the protection of the fundamental rights of all citizen regardless of caste community, tribe of gender. Specifically, its failure, to provide firm and non-partisan leadership to the state and to give unequivocal instructions to prevent inflammatory processions carrying of Swami Laxmanananda body more than 222 kilometers to inflame passions, allow a  ‘bandh’ called by an organisation was key in allowing the violence to spread.

Similarities to Gujarat Genocide of 2002

A procession was allowed on August 24, 2008 that accompanied the dead body of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati to every nook and corner of Kandhamal, stopping outside churches, shouting incendiary slogans, sowing the seeds of communal tension against the minority Christians. The rioters went on rampage by destroying the homes of the minority community. Similarly the corpses of the unfortunate victims of the Godhra mass arson that took place in S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express were paraded in different parts of Ahmedabad to inflame cadres of the VHP and BD to commit brute violence thereafter.

On August 25, 2008 a call was given by the sangh parivar for an Odisha bandh. The state government, again, did not take any effective steps to protect the life and property of the people by deploying military force in sensitive places. As a result, a well thought out plan was executed for ethnic cleansing. In the process, innocent lives were savagely smothered like moth without any respect for human values. An innocent girl, Rajani was thrown inside the burning Sevashram.

The medical report submitted by Dr Sangita Mishra and Smita Marandi in the nun rape case was suppressed for 39 days from the public. The police chief of Kandhamal was forced to admit before the public in a press conference that the medical report revealed that she was raped. Till then, neither the accused persons had been nabbed nor any enquiry conducted by the investigating agencies. The administration remained mute witness to the bestiality shown by activists of the Bajrang Dal, killing people and hiding the dead bodies in the dense forest. At the same time it successfully manipulated the media to project before the public that everything is under control and no barbarity was being committed by the rioters.

Togadia inflamed violence through the calculated use of provocative statements inciting violence against Christians in blatant violation of law. This led to the widespread massacre of Christians and burning of prayer halls of the community. Hence he is liable to be prosecuted for giving provocation to the riot under section 153a, 153b and 595 of the Indian Penal Code and section 295 IPC. The state government ought to have directed the police to file an FIR and initiated criminal proceedings against him. Perpetrators such as Togadia are in the business of hate incitement (Gujarat, Mumbai, Assam, and Rajasthan) and if not prosecuted will spread their venom ad infinitum.

The BJP was a coalition partner of the BJD led government in 2008. Several of its leaders, including ministers in the state cabinet had participated in the procession (as the video shows) and the funeral ceremony of the late Lakshmananda Saraswati was used to give a green signal to the communal criminals to set fires to homes, entire villages, attack churches and unleash a reign of terror against the Christian minority. The presence of ministers along with the inciters openly encouraged VHP and Bajrang Dal activists to go ahead with the violence without any fear.

Though official reports of the Odisha government claimed at the time that 10,000 people had already returned back to their homes from the relief camps to settle in their villages, many have since been rendered permanently homeless. For months thereafter, they were either living in inhuman camps which the state does not admit to or are in other states, having migrated in fear. Furthermore the threat of forceful conversion by shaving their head and drinking cow dung water remained a threat that still looms large.

About 62 FIRs had been filed between 2006 and 2008 relating to forceful conversion from Christianity to Hinduism in Kandhamal in gross violation to the Odisha Freedom of Religion Act, 1967 and Rules.
Should not those in responsible positions in the administration and police and inciters of hatred and violence like Togadia been effectively prosecuted?

The district administration Baliguda who was responsible for suppressing the rape of the nun for 33 days also remained a mute spectator to the massacre and burning the villages and churches. This is empirical proof of the ideological designs and pressures on the district police and administration by the sangh parivar and moreover threatens the basic tenets of transparency and the rule of law that decree that when a crime is committed, the guilty must be punished.

Thus along with the district administration, G Udaygiri, Tikabali, Raikia and Pasara, the superintendent police (SP) of Kandhamal and the director general (DG) of Police are also responsible for these calculated lapses that violate a citizens fundamental rights to equal protection before the law under the Indian Constitution; that violate their statutory duties under the CrPC and the administrative service rules governing IPS and IAS officers.

Hence, they should have been suspended and criminal prosecutions for criminal negligence for the loss of lives of members of the minority community been launched against them. If normal departmental proceedings were initiated against them, the same should not be a camouflage for a full-fledged criminal prosecution in full public view that is required to restore the confidence of the people in the state.

The compensation for the families of those killed which was announced has not been given in several cases because of the non-availability of the post-mortem report to the legal heir of the deceased. Since they have lost their earning member of the family, they should have been paid compensation immediately without waiting for a post-mortem report with the condition that the relative of the victim submit an indemnity bond and the eyewitnesses testified to the deaths.

That apart, the compensation declared by the government was a paltry sum. Commensurate packages should be paid to what has been paid elsewhere. In the case of the Gujarat genocide of 2002, also, the Gujarat government's pathetic package was buffeted by a central government package that gave Rs 5 lakh for every life lost and Rs 1.25 lakh to every injured person. Hence the state government should have been compelled to review its package of compensation and re-assess it in view of the severe psychological and socio-economic jolt to the family members of the deceased. This again points to the lacunae due to the absence of institutional, statutory measures for reparation to survivors of mass comes.

Demands for an Independent Commission were never met

The displaced: Inside a refugee camp

Since the violence, several steps were suggested to restore faith among the victim community. The following specific suggestions were made to create an independent body in the district level and also in each block to facilitate the peace process. These were however never acted upon.

·         Immediate creation of 'Help Line' and also 'Citizen's Committees' headed by a local community leader, essentially a human rights activist from among ST/SC/religious minority groups, in each block and at district level to collect first hand information

·         Proper documentation of victim and deprived families

·         Appointment of sensitive officers from the SC/ST/minority communities in all affected areas

·         Review and appointment of officers from the SC/ST communities who are sensitive to the issues and make changes as per the advice of the said committees as per ST/SC Atrocity Act 1989 and Rule 1995.

Identifying the Perpetrators in Odisha: Chain of Command Responsibility

·         The political leadership in Odisha represented by the politicians at the top even in the state cabinet, especially cabinet ministers from the BJP at the time, who endorsed or participated in the violent procession following Swami Lakshmanananda’s murder. They were under a constitutional obligation and had taken an oath to protect the lives and properties of all, irrespective of caste creed or community (Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, Article 163-165 of the Indian Constitution).

·         The state of Odisha under its constitutional obligation to protect lives of all irrespective of caste, gender, community and class (Article 21 of the Indian Constitution)

·         The Union of India, represented through its secretary of home, New Delhi under its constitutional obligation specifically under Article 355 of the Indian Constitution (Duty of the Union to Protect States Against External Aggression and Internal Disturbance: It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution).

·         Individuals in the state government/administration who are culpable: secretary of home department, Odisha, Secretariat, Bhubaneswar; especially officers in charge in Cuttack, Behrampur-Ganjam, Phulbani; officials of the Tikabali police station, Udaygiri police station, Raikia police station, Daringbadi and K Nuagaon, Baligududa police station. This is quite apart from the criminal culpability of the perpetrators whose roles were investigated and who were found to be responsible for fomenting the violence be it Ashok Sahoo, convener Hindu Jagaran Samukhy Biswa Sambad Kendra or Pravin Togadia, international secretary general of VHP.

After each and every bout of targeted anti-minority violence, the absence of institutional memory surfaces and remains a major handicap in ensuring complete or at least fair reparation. It was this absence of sustained and coherent institutional memory that was at the root of the massive countrywide movement to table and enact the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011. Unfortunately this became a victim of narrow, sectarian worldviews and a weak political leadership under the United Progressive Alliance II. Until India finds a way to renew and regenerate its will to recognise institutionalised bias and correct it trough the threat of penal punitive action, there is literally nothing to fear for either the perpetrators or a complicit state. Extraordinary energy, commitment and resources are needed to sustain a citizens’ battle for justice, as we have done for the perpetrators in 2002 and ensured 137 convictions to life imprisonment. That’s a price only few are willing to pay.
 
 

The post Kandhamal, 8 Years Later: No Sign of Justice for Victims of Sangh Parivar’s Communal Onslaught appeared first on SabrangIndia.

कंधमाल मेरे लिए कोई नया विषय नहीं है। काउंटरकरेंट्स डॉट ऑर्ग ने दो नवंबर 2003 को अंगना चटर्जी का लिखा एक लेख प्रकाशित किया था- 'ओड़िशाः अ गुजरात इन द मेकिंग।' यह लेख 2008 में कंधमाल में हुए आधुनिक भारत में ईसाइयों के खिलाफ सबसे बर्बर दंगों के पांच साल पहले छपा था, जिस दंगे में तिरानबे लोग मारे गए, आदिवासी ईसाइयों और दलित ईसाइयों के साढ़े तीन सौ से ज्यादा पूजा-स्थलों को नष्ट कर दिया गया, लगभग साढ़े छह हजार घरों को जला या ढाह दिया गया, चालीस से ज्यादा महिलाओं का बलात्कार किया गया, यौन हिंसा, बेईज्जती की गई और अनेक शैक्षिक संस्थानों, सामाजिक सेवाओं और स्वास्थ्य संस्थानों को तोड़-फोड़ दिया गया या लूट लिया गया। छप्पन हजार से ज्यादा लोगों को अपनी जमीन छोड़ कर भागना पड़ा। इस त्रासद और खौफनाक घटना के बाद काउंटर करेंट्स ने तथ्यों का अध्ययन, विश्लेषण, विचार और जमीनी रिपोर्ट सहित दर्जनों लेख छापे थे।

मैं 2015 में कंधमाल के दौरे पर गया था और कंधमाल के जमीनी हालात पर विस्तार से रिपोर्ट लिख सका। मैंने कंधमाल हिंसा में अपने पति को गंवा चुकी दर्जनों ऐसी महिलाओं से बातचीत की। जब मैं उनका इंटरव्यू ले रहा था तो उन लोगों ने मेरी तरफ कुछ ऐसे देखा था जैसे कोई उनकी बेहद दयनीय हालत और परेशानी में थोड़ी राहत पहुंचाएगा। वे तमाम लोग हिंदुत्ववादी ताकतों की ओर से धमकी का सामना कर रहे थे और अपने गांव में नहीं लौट सकते थे। उनमें से ज्यादातर देश के अलग-अलग हिस्सों में घरेलू नौकरों, टेलर और इसी तरह के दूसरे बहुत छोटे-मोटे काम करके अपने तबाह हो चुके परिवारों को जिंदा रखने की कोशिश में लगे हुए थे। वे शायद ही जानते रहे हों कि मेरी तरह का कोई बेहद मामूली पत्रकार उनके लिए कुछ भी खास नहीं कर सकता था। उनकी आंखों में बसी उम्मीद से मैं सचमुच स्तब्ध था।

यह सब देख कर भी मैंने खुद को शांत बनाए रखा था और अपनी 'ड्यूटी' पूरी कर रहा था। मैं तबाह हो चुके घरों के अलावा एक ऐसे घर में भी गया जिसमें एक बुजुर्ग महिला को जिंदा जला दिया गया था। एक चर्च, जिसे गौशाले में तब्दील कर दिया गया था। मैं रैकिया में हजारों पीड़ितों के जुलूस में साथ था। रैकिया कंधमाल में आरएसएस-संघ परिवार की हिंसक गतिविधियों का केंद्रीय स्थल था। मैंने तमाम मुसीबतों और सरकार की उदासीनता के बावजूद उन पीड़ितों की ओर से पेश की गई सामूहिक चुनौती और उनका हौसला देखा, जिन्होंने सांप्रदायिक सद्भाव के लिए साथ आकर एक आंदोलन खड़ा कर दिया। लोगों के साथ जुलूसों में साथ चलते हुए मैं इस बात को लेकर आश्वस्त था कि आरएसएस-संघ परिवार के लोग अब कंधमाल में 2008 को कभी नहीं दोहरा सकेंगे।

इसी महीने की उन्नीस तारीख को मैं कालीकट में केपी केशव मेनन हॉल में उन दर्शकों के बीच था, जो केपी शशि की डॉक्यूमेंटरी फिल्म 'वॉयसेज फ्रॉम द रुइन्सः कंधमाल इन सर्च ऑफ जस्टिस' देख रहे थे। शशि मेरे अच्छे दोस्त रहे हैं और मैंने उनसे भी कंधमाल की उन घटनाओं के बारे में काफी सुना। मैंने इस फिल्म के शुरुआती संपादित रूप भी देखे। मैं जानता था कि इस फिल्म को बनाते हुए उन्हें किस दर्द और मुसीबतों से गुजरना पड़ा होगा। जब मैं अंधेरे में बैठा स्क्रीन पर चल रही इस फिल्म के दृश्यों से गुजर रहा था, तब असल में मैं एक बार फिर से कंधमाल की हिंसा को जिंदा होते देख रहा था। हिंसा की नंगी और खौफनाक कहानियां, पीड़ितों की लाचारगी, उन हिंदुओं की हिम्मत, जिन्होंने अपनी जान पर खेल कर बहुत सारे ईसाइयों को बचाया, इंसाफ तय करने में सरकारी और न्यायिक उदासीनता और आखिरकार एक ऐसे उदार भारत के निर्माण की उम्मीद, जो मजहबी भाईचारे के जरिए सांप्रदायिक ताकतों की धूर्त और बेईमान मंशा को खारिज करेगी, हराएगी। समूची फिल्म और खासतौर पर आखिरी दृश्य ने मेरे जज्बातों को बेचैन कर दिया और मैं रो पड़ा।

इस फिल्म को देखने के तुरंत बाद मुझे इस पर अपनी राय जाहिर करने के लिए मंच पर बुलाया गया। मैंने अपने आंसू पोंछे और मंच पर गया। अब भी मैं अपने आंसू नहीं रोक पा रहा था। मैं भीतर से बेहद परेशान और शर्मिंदा था। मैंने दर्शकों को कहा कि यह फिल्म दरअसल भावनाओं के जरिए एक क्रांतिकारी कार्रवाई पैदा करती है। शशि की फिल्म हजारों किलोमीटर दूर हुई एक घटना के बारे में लोगों के जज्बात को झकझोरने में सक्षम है और अब यह तय करना हमारी जिम्मेदारी है कि पीड़ितों को इंसाफ मिल सके।

हालांकि मैं शशि की फिल्म को देखते हुए अपनी भावनाओं पर काबू पाने की कोशिश कर रहा था, लेकिन यह केवल रुलाने वाली फिल्म भर नहीं है। यह कंधमाल की हिंसा का एक बेहद शांत मन से किया गया अध्ययन है। यह फिल्म अतीत में जाकर उन चीजों के बारे में गहराई और विस्तार से बताती है कि आरएसएस-संघ परिवार के लोग कैसे लगातार नफरत के अभियान चला कर धीरे-धीरे कंधमाल की नसों में घुस गए। माओवादियों द्वारा स्वामी लक्ष्मणानंद की हत्या को कैसे सांप्रदायिक ताकतों ने आदिवासी और दलित ईसाइयों के कत्लेआम के लिए इस्तेमाल किया। यह फिल्म दिखाती है कि वह कत्लेआम उस स्वामी की हत्या की कोई तात्कालिक प्रतिक्रिया भर नहीं था, बल्कि अल्पसंख्यकों पर एक सुनियोजित हमला था। इसके बाद यह फिल्म न्याय देने की प्रक्रिया का भी विश्लेषण करते हुए बताती है कि कैसे यह पीड़ितों को इंसाफ देने में नाकाम रही। आखिर में यह फिल्म वहां के पीड़ितों की ओर से अपने पैमाने पर खड़ा किए गए एक ठोस प्रतिरोध आंदोलन और तमाम राजनीतिक खेमेबंदियों को तोड़ कर साथ आए पीड़ितों के समर्थन को दिखाते हुए एक उम्मीद के साथ खत्म होती है।

कंधमाल के मसले पर इतना भावुक हो जाने वाला मैं अकेला नहीं था। 2015 में मैंने देखा था कि स्वामी लक्ष्मणानंद की हत्या के आरोप में फूलबनी जेल में बंद सात निर्दोष दलित-आदिवासी ईसाइयों से मिलने के बाद भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (मार्क्सवादी) की पोलित ब्यूरो सदस्य बृंदा करात अपने आंसू पोंछ रही थीं। विचित्र है कि उस सांप्रदायिक हिंसा से संबंधित किसी भी मामले में सिर्फ यही लोग दोषी ठहराए गए और अब तक जेल में बंद हैं। हां, भारत कंधमाल में इन गरीब आदिवासियों-दलितों को इंसाफ देने में नाकाम रहा। शशि अपनी फिल्म में इस हकीकत को पूरी ताकत से सामने लाते हैं। यही वजह हो सकती है कि मैं इस फिल्म को देखते हुए रो पड़ा।
 

The post कंधमाल के खंडहरों की चीखें और एक फिल्म देखते हुए मेरा रोना appeared first on SabrangIndia.

After the dreaded thing happened Countercurrents.org had published dozens of articles including fact finding reports, analyses, opinions and on the ground reports.

I had visited Kandhamal in 2015 and extensively reported about the current situation in Kandhamal. I interviewed a dozen widows of Kandhamal violence. While interviewing them they looked upon me as someone who could bring them some succour to the pathetic situation they are in. Many of them are facing intimidation from Hindutva forces and can’t return to their villages. Most of them were living in different parts of India as house maids, tailors and doing other odd jobs to sustain their ruined families. Little did they know that an insignificant journalist like me could do very little for them. The hope in their eyes really shook me. Still I kept my calm and kept on doing my ‘job’. I visited ruined houses, visited a house where an old woman was burnt alive, visited a church that became a cow shed. I marched with thousands of victims in Raikia, the nerve centre of violence and heartland of RSS/Sangh Parivar in Kandhamal. I saw the collective defiance and courage of the victims who in spite of all the hardships and government apathy, came together and formed a movement for communal harmony. Marching with the masses I was convinced that the RSS/Sangh Parivar elements will never be able to repeat a 2008 again in Kandhamal.

On 19^th of this month I was among the audience at K.P. Kesava Menon hall in Calicut, watching K.P Sasi’s documentary “Voices From The Ruins: Kandhamal in Search of Justice”. Sasi being a good friend of mine I had heard stories about Kandhamal from him too. I had seen the rushes of the film, a roughly edited version too. I also knew the pain and hardships that he went through in making this film. While I sat in the dark and went through the visuals that played before me on the screen I was re-living the Kandhamal violence once again. As the tales of the naked horrors of the violence, the helplessness of the victims, the courage of many Hindus who saved many Christian lives risking their own lives, the government and judicial apathy in delivering justice and finally the hope of building a resilient India that will defeat the nefarious designs of the communal forces through religious harmony overwhelmed me with emotions and I cried.

Soon after the screening I was called upon to the stage to give my reactions about the film. I wiped my tears off and went on to the stage. Still I could not stop my tears. I was embarrassed. Through my tears I told the audience it is through emotions that revolutionary actions are born. Sasi’s film was able to evoke emotion about an incident that happened thousands of kilometers away and now it is our duty to make sure that the victims get justice.

Although I was overcome with emotion while watching Sasi’s film, it is not a tear jerker. It is a calm and composed study of the Kandhamal violence. It delves into history to show how the hate campaign by RSS/Sangh Parivar elements slowly seeped through the veins of Kandhamal. How the killing of Swami Lakshmananda by the Maoists was used by the communal forces to unleash a pogrom on Adivasi and Dalit Christians. The film shows that the violence was not a spontaneous reaction to the killing of the Swami, but a well planned orchestrated attack on the minorities. The film then analyses the justice delivery system and how it failed to deliver justice to the victims. The film ends in a note of hope by showing the robust resistance movement the victims themselves built and solidarity and support coming to the victims cutting across political spectrum.

I am not alone to overcome with emotion in Kandhamal. In 2015, I saw Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) wiping her tears off after visiting seven innocent Dalit/Adivasi Christians who are lodged in Phulbani jail allegedly for killing Swami Lakshmananda. Incidentally they are the only people who are convicted and still lodged in jail in any case related to this horrific communal violence.  Yes, India failed in delivering justice to these poor Adivasi/Dalits in Kandhamal. Sasi brings out this truth forcefully through his film. That may be the reason I cried after watching this film.

This article originally appeared on www.countercurrents.org

Binu Mathew is the editor of www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org
 

The post ‘Voices From The Ruins Of Kandhamal’ And Why I Cried After Watching The Film appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
A recent news report (‘Now, RSS plans to launch a Christian outfit’; The Times of India, January 4, 2016) has taken the Christian community in India by storm. The report quotes Indresh Kumar, senior pracharak, member of the national executive and margdarshak (guide) of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch as saying: “On December 17, 4-5 Archbishops, 40-50 Reverend Bishops from across 10 to 12 states met and it was decided to build a movement. This is preparing the ground to lay the seeds for an organisation.” According to the report, the proposed organisation, likely to be named Rashtriya Isai Manch, is to work along the lines of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch. The supposed aim is to build “goodwill” among India’s Christians.
 
The report also mentions that while addressing a Christmas celebration organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in December, Union home minister, Rajnath Singh assured Christians that he would not let any "injustice" happen to them. Singh added that he was deeply hurt by the attacks on churches in the year before. This was followed a few days later by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley hosting clergy and professionals from the Christian community at a gathering which was attended, among others, by Cardinal Oswal Gracias, who is a member of Pope Francis' advisory council.

In short, Indian Christians are being wooed simultaneously by the RSS and top ministers in the government led by Narendra Modi, the sangh parivar’s preferred candidate for the the prime ministerial chair. It is curious, to say the least, that the man chosen by the RSS to be the face of the proposed Christian outfit, Kumar, is the same person who stands accused of instigating the most widespread and vicious anti-Christian violence in 300 years – Kandhamal, Odisha during 2007-08 and whose name has also figured in ‘saffron terror’ cases.
 
What’s going on here? Why this sudden love and affection for a community which has been demonised and repetedly targeted, especially since the late 1990s? Is this a fresh RSS hoax or a case of naivete among a few church members? How does RSS propose “to build bridges of goodwill with the Christian community”? What, if any, was the outcome of the several dialogues with the Church in the recent past? Does RSS have some hidden agenda behind such dialogues? How does the Church respond to the idea of an RSS-inspired Christian outfit? While the top Church leadership is yet to respond to the proposal of launching an RSS-friendly Christian outfit, let us try to understand what is behind the proposed launching of this outfit and the possible options before the Church.

The series of attacks on adivasi Christians in Gujarat in 1998 rattled and unnerved the peace-loving Christian community in India. The Church leadership did not know how to respond to these diabolical attacks. The Church leaders’ prime concern for the protection of the members forced them to have direct talks with the leaders of the perpetrators rather than the state actors (the latter, in many cases, were hand-in-glove with the former).

 
Talking peace with the bully
The Church in India has and continues to contribute to nation building, especially in the sphere of education and health care of the marginalised groups. The Church’s humanitarian response to all disasters, whether man-made or natural, remains unparallelled. Yet, in recent years the sangh parivar has repeatedly targeted the community with hate campaigns, physical attacks and intimidation, questioned the intention behind the services provided by the Church for the marginalised groups as never before.
 
The series of attacks on adivasi Christians in Gujarat in 1998 rattled and unnerved the peace-loving Christian community in India. The Church leadership did not know how to respond to these diabolical attacks. The Church leaders’ prime concern for the protection of the members forced them to have direct talks with the leaders of the perpetrators rather than the state actors (the latter, in many cases, were hand-in-glove with the former).
 
Thus began the story of dialogue between Church groups and the sangh parivar in December 1998. Those who participated in the first conference included the then BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, RSS joint general secretary KS Sudershan, BJP general secretary Narendra Modi on one hand and Catholic Bishops Conference of India president Archbishop Alan de Lastic of Delhi, Archbishop Aruldas James of Madras, Evangelical Fellowship of India general secretary Richard Howell, the Church of North India's Sushma Ramaswamy, All-India Association of Christian Higher Education director Mani Jacob, Indian Social Institute director Father Ambrose Pinto and All-India Catholic Union national secretary John Dayal on the other.
 
A vicious cycle
Archbishop Alan De Lastic who led the first dialogue with the BJP-RSS for the protection of the community was quick to realise the futility of the talks. At a meeting immediately after the dialogue, he told the then home minister LK Advani: “The dialogues with the sangh parivar would serve no purpose unless there was an immediate end to the physical and verbal violence against the community, particularly in Gujurat”. “What I have noticed is that ever since this government (BJP-led NDA) came to power at the Centre, the attacks on the Christians and Christian missionaries have increased,” he added.
 
Of equal concern was the NDA government's wilful refusal to condemn the violence, the fact that as home minister Advani was not living up to his oath of office (do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will). But the official response was: “There is no law and order problem in Gujarat”. Alan de Lastic’s untimely car accident in Poland in June 2000 left a void.
 
The chart below clearly shows how dialogues between the Church and the sangh parivar have not resulted in any let up in the attacks against Christians:
 

 
As indicated above, dialogue after dialogue continued over the years at different levels. But it meant nothing for the Christian community which was under relentless attack even, as the RSS laid claim to ongoing dialogues with the Church. Chaos was evident among the Church groups as some unknown faces with varied interest holding dialogues with the RSS and claiming positive outcomes. But for the RSS, it was simply a joy ride. Meeting a few self-serving individuals/fronts and Church associates at different locations, billing them as Church-RSS meets were too part of their strategies. The only use of these dialogues was to lend credence to the pretence of BJP leaders in government that the attacks on Christians were the handiwork of anti-social elements unrelated to the sangh parivar. As the dialogue drama unfolded, Christians who had participated in them despite their reluctance and apprehensions realised that the RSS was not at all serious and that it could not meet the community expectations.
 
In 2002, the Kerala Council of Churches, affiliated to the National Council of Churches of India (NCCI), urged its parent body to reassess the process of dialogue. “The strategy adopted by the RSS for a dialogue with churches, the committee observed, “appeared to be intended to divide the churches”.
 
A year earlier, Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius, president, Ecumenical Study and Dialogue Centre flayed the move for a dialogue between the CBCI-NCCI and the RSS arguing that those entering into a dialogue with the RSS were only weakening their credibility to speak on behalf of the Christian community.
 
Seeing through the hidden agenda
Fr. Ambrose Pinto, former director of Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, one of the delegates for the first-ever meeting between top Church and RSS leaders held in 1998 sees the future of any further Church-RSS meet thus: “First of all, we need to know:  a) what RSS stands for, b) why is the RSS saying what it is saying? c) the difference between its propaganda and facts, and d) in case Christians join them, do those Christians represent us? Understanding the nature of the fascist organisation, we should resist them as a community in solidarity with the prople of goodwill”. Would he like to be part of any future dialogue? “I was a reluctant participant. I did not want to be there. Even at that meet, I was one of those who spoke against their designs. I shall never join any kind of dailogue with RSS. You cannot dialogue with fascists”.
 
Says John Dayal, one of the delegates for the first Church-RSS dialogue: “To the parivar, there is only one mantra. Stop Conversions, and everything will end. To the sangh parivar, a dialogue is a monologue in which it speaks its mind, and the other has to take it or lump it. After all, Christianity is all about dialogue, both within the church and outside. Parivar spokespersons keep on repeating the same old manufactured lies like a Goebblesian zombie. If any single community, Sikh or Christian or Muslim, thinks it can reach a bilateral peace with the sangh parivar, it is only deceiving itself, and allowing the parivar to buy time”.
 
As the above chart shows for the RSS dialogue was mere pretense. The dialogues were punctuated with increasing violence year after year. The worst ever violence against Christians in India in 300 years was in Orissa in 2007-08 which continued unabated for over four months. It took nearly four years for the displaced adivasi and dalit Christians to return to their homes; even today there are several villagers where the forcibly displaced are not able to return eight years after the carnage.

The only use of these dialogues was to lend credence to the pretence of BJP leaders in government that the attacks on Christians were the handiwork of anti-social elements unrelated to the sangh parivar. As the dialogue drama unfolded, Christians who had participated in them despite their reluctance and apprehensions realised that the RSS was not at all serious and that it could not meet the community expectations.
 
While the dialogue was underway, the sangh parivar stepped up its hate campaign and violence against the Christian community. It is important to reflect why the earlier dialogues have failed to yield results. What are the issues that the RSS and the Church bring to the table? The RSS is quite clear about its agenda as has been articulated both in words (media) and actions (violence). As for the Church, it is still debatable whether it does or does not want any further dialogue. If yes, for what purpose and towards what end?
 
No one should be confused about what the RSS stands. There are certain key issues on which the sangh parivar’s stand is consistent and clear. The real agenda behind the so-called dialogue it seeks with Christians is to browbeat the community into meekly concurring with its ‘non-negotiable’ stands on these issues. These are repeatedly articulated through its mouthpiece, the Organiser. Here below are just a few examples:
 
Hindutva on conversions: ‘anti-national’ act
 

• Ram Madhav, spokesperson of RSS and general secretary of BJP calls for dismantling the evangelical establishment in the Organiser, November 2, 2008)

 
“Evangelists are subverting Indian culture… conversion, especially in tribal areas, leads to demographic disturbances which in turn lead to resentment and violence.”

• (Late) MV Kamath, sangh parivar ideologue in the Organiser, November 2, 2008.

 
“Conversion is an act of violence… Religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence and it breeds violence.”

• Swami Dayanand Saraswati in an ‘Open Letter’ to Pope John Paul II in the Organiser, October 1999.

 
“Conversions ban [are] a national necessity… Conversions are resorted to for political reasons and not for faith. There is, therefore, absolute justification for imposing a ban on free conversions. Lawlessness in India has taken place whenever the governments have failed the people to satisfy their legitimate feelings”.

• Swami Asangananda Bharati, director, Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, in the Organiser, January 9, 2005.

 
“They went away (to other religion) because of some allurement and thus there is nothing wrong in bringing them back to original fold… It is like a thief who steals our valuables. The thief is caught and we will get our valuables back. They are ours.”

• RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat, in The Hindu, December 21, 2014.

 
“Is conversion necessary? Will any country allow changes in its demographic character?”

•  Union home minister, Rajnath Singh signalling the central government’s willingness for an anti-conversion law, PIB release, March 23, 2015.

 
“An aggressive campaign is required for ghar wapsi of those Hindus who had converted to other religions in the past.”

• BJP’s Lok Sabha MP, Yogi Adityanath, at a conference ‘Dharmantaran Rashtranataran Hai’ (Religious conversion is the same as change of nationality) at Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur. It was announced that BJP MPs Yogi Adityanath and Tarun Vijay will introduce private member bills in the the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively to stop religious conversions and debate the issue in next session of the Parliament, in The Indian Express, September 27, 2015.

 
Hindutva on affirmative action for minorities: vehement opposition
 
The denial of justice to the Dalit Christians and Muslims goes against the letter and spirit of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 25 of the Constitution of India on equal justice, equal opportunities and freedom of religion. Both Ranganath Mishra Commission and Sachar Committee reports address the anamoly in denying reservation meant for Scheduled Castes to Christian and Muslim Dalits. The sangh parivar however remains vehemently opposed to any affirmative action, as is evident from the writings and statements of its leaders, spokespersons and ideologues:
 
“The Ranganath Misra Commission’s report is… a sinister, treasonous conspiracy… it is the UPA’s gift to the Vatican and the Pakistani-Arab sponsors of jehad. It is on the verge of capitulating to a notorious paedophile organisation, masquerading as a religious dispensation and the licentious, Islamist criminals enthroned by the British… For quite sometime now Christian evangelists and Islamist jehadis have been working overtime to subvert the Indian judiciary. They want to disempower it and for real decision-making authority to reside with suborned politicians ready to facilitate the rapid ensnaring of Indian society… If reservations (for Scheduled Castes) are extended to Christians and Muslims a no-holds-barred campaign of bribery and chicanery will commence to entice underprivileged Hindus into their political fold. At present Hindus are harder to lure because Hindu society legislated reservations to help them overcome historic disadvantages. The Islamo-Christian calculation is that an extraordinary opportunity to finish Hindus off is at hand”.

• Dr. Gautam Sen, member, steering committee, World Hindu Economics Forum; president, World Association of Hindu Academicians in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“If perverted reports like those of Justices like Sachar and Ranganath Misra indulge in travesty of justice, who will save the law of the motherland? Ours is a nation governed by the will of the people. These justices may come and go, the nation is inexorably an essential unity, adhering to only one global ethic – dharma.  Sachar and Ranganath Misra have done a signal disservice to the integrity and unity of the nation by promoting a sectarian view, which will not achieve an integrally developed Bharat with equal opportunities for everyone to realise his or her full potential”.

• Dr S Kalyanaraman, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“Minorities cannot ask for caste quotas. If either Christians or Muslims accept and practice caste discrimination amongst themselves, the conversion process among such groups or individuals should be legally declared to be inadequate and incomplete. In other words, they may be declared as non-Christians and non-Muslims and asked to either complete the process of their transformation to the new faith, or return to the Hindu fold. There can be no half-way house in this matter”.

• Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, July 23, 2006.

 
“The need to strip converts of quota regime: The Kendriya Sarna Samiti (KSS) asserts that tribal converts no longer belong to the Scheduled Tribe as they have renounced their traditional identity as a sine qua non of the conversion process”.

•  Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, September 3, 2006.

 
Cannibalizing Hindu society: Evangelicals have jealously sought access to the caste-based reservation benefits of Hindu depressed classes. They saw their chance when the Mandal Commission listed some ‘Muslim castes’ among the OBCs. Political parties were too short-sighted to challenge this dangerous opening, and Christians began to lobby for SC/ST benefits for ‘Dalit Christians’.”

• Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, June 3, 2007.

 
“Enough is enough! Stop looting! Don’t try patience of Hindus: Why should Hindu tax-payers pay for vicious design by Islamic fanatics? Why should Hindu SCs, OBCs and STs and other meritorious Hindus allow Muslims and Christians to snatch their school/college seats, jobs, loans, lands and political rights?… STs converted to Christianity should not be allowed to retain and enjoy their ST reservations. Articles 25 to 30, minority privileges should be cancelled”.

• Pravin Togadia, VHP leader, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“It is the story of another anti-Hindu policy of Orissa government, which is going to create an explosive situation… Levinus Kindo, IAS, the member of state board of revenue, has issued a circular to all the collectors that during his last tour of the tribal areas, he found that the tribal Christians (tribal converted to Christianity) are being deprived of getting proper benefit as they are being recorded as only Christians in the government records and in their respective Record of Rights (RoR) too… ‘Such an illegal and anti-national circular of Orissa government will encourage the missionary to undertake more conversions in the tribal areas. Christians will enjoy double privilege as tribals along with their present religion, says Sarat Chandra Sarangi, state general secretary of VHP, Orissa while expressing his reaction on the issue’.”

• Debasis Tripathy, in the Organiser, May 15, 2005.

Hindutva on secularism: ‘a façade for anti-Hinduism’
 
For the ideologues and votaries of Hindutva, secularism is a dirty word:
 
“Secularism has degenerated as the backbone of terrorists & evangelists: This India had to be a Hindu India. The ideology of Indian secularism, misconceived from the very outset, has become the backbone of Islamic jihad and fundamentalist evangelism. The one is committing mass murder, the other attempting to transform India’s cultural and political landscape in order to reimpose foreign rule over it”.

• Dr.Gautam Sen, president, World Association of Hindu Academicians, in the Organiser, November 2, 2008.

 
“Secularism: A facade for anti-Hinduism: We became enamoured of the word secular because of our contact with the Britishers during their 150 years rule or because of our association and appreciation of the British polity… Why are not Pakistan and Bangladesh secular states?”

• MG Vaidya, all-India Prachar Pramukh, RSS, in the Organiser, October 12, 2008.

 
“For RSS, secularism is irrelevant in India: The perversion of the concept of secularism has resulted in the terming of nationalists as communal and people with communal thinking being hailed as secular. Saffron should have been the only colour on the national flag as other colours represented a communal thought.”

• MG Vaidya, all-India Prachar Pramukh, RSS, in The Indian Express, September 20, 2015.

 
“Rajnath is right. Secularism has become communal”.

• Shyam Khosla, on the then BJP president, Rajnath Singh calling for  a national debate on secularism, in the Organiser, June 15, 2008.

 
“Secularism is the most misused word in the country…This must stop. Because of the rampant misuse of the word, there have been instances of tension in society.”

• Rajnath Singh, Union home minister, NDTV, November 26, 2015.

 
Issue after issue of the Organiser is splashed with headlines such as ‘Secularism as insulting Hindus’, ‘Obnoxious application of secularism’. The media and secular groups who ‘dare’ to spoke out against anti-Christian or anti-Muslim atrocities are severely castigated for alleged “minority appeasement” and “pseudo-secularism”.
 
 
Hindutva on India’s minorities: ‘Your Safety lies in our goodwill’
 
“Hindutva is facing severe jolts all over the world. Muslim fundamentalists and Christian missionaries are the age old enemies of Hinduism. Next to them the communists have come forward to squeeze the throat of this great way of life. They have also walked a long way in this deadly mission”

• Jagadguru Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswatiji of Puri (Odisha) Govardhan Peetham, one of the four Sankaracharyas, in the Organiser, June 18, 2006.

 
“Minorities must have good relations with the majority for their safety”.

• (Former) RSS Chief KC Sudarshan, talking to the media after a dialogue with Christian leaders, in The Times of India, March 22, 2002.

 
“Unravelling the poisonous power of discourse: The UPA government made a great communal leap when it formed the Ministry of Minority Affairs… The creation of National Commission for Minorities is another instance of communalism… The Sachar Committee’s functioning needs to be probed… it has violated not only its terms and references but created a poisonous atmosphere. The recommendations are not [only] communal and divisive [but] a complete retreat to hey days of the Muslim Leagues’ politics”.

• Rakesh Sinha, RSS ideologue, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010. 

 
Hindutva on the Vatican: Pope a ‘dacoit’
 
“Conversion to Christianity in the pretext of service, health, education and co-operation is an insult and devaluation to the service itself and a crime against humanity… It proves that your services are selfish motivated and expansionist as well as intolerant… In all the states, districts, areas where the Christian missionaries are active and powerful, the hatred, crime, social unrest, separatism, addiction are on the increase and the environment of peace, harmony, brotherhood and happiness are fading away”.

• Indresh Kumar, in an open letter addressed by him to Pope Benedict XVI, reported by the Organiser, October 19, 2008.

 
“The pontiff, who is a dacoit, cannot be India’s guest”.

• VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore in a scathing attack on Pope John Paul II, in The Telegraph, October 29, 1999.

 
“Christianity inherited this [Roman] instinct of cruelty. The Pope wants to convert us Hindus into Christianity. The West wants to have control over our destiny. Can we allow these things to happen?”

• MSN Menon, in the Organiser, March 20, 2005.

. 
Hindutva’s advise to Christians: set up Indian nationalistic churches 
 
“Indian Christians must free themselves from from the stranglehold of foreign countries by setting up Indian nationalistic churches."

• KS Sudarshan, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief), at an RSS rally in Agra. A few days earlier, Sudarshan had argued that this was essential in the interests of national security; in The Washington Times, October 18, 2000.

 
“Church is an arm of the West's defence forces. It has been used to guide Christians into domestic as well as international politics”.

• KS Sudarshan, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief), at an RSS rally in Agra, in the Fontline.

 
“An Indian Christianity not just desirable, it is a must: Indian Christians must purge their faith of… imperial distortions… Indian Christians must leave this tradition of violence. They are legatees of the Indian (Vedic) tradition of love (of humanity as a family) and the Buddhist tradition of compassion. But this also happens to be the tradition of Jesus. Christianity was born as a religion of love. Today it is a religion of hatred. This must be a matter of concern to Indian Christians. Only the guidance of a lofty world view such as that of Vedanta can release them from their predicament. Only they can save Christianity’.

• MSN Menon, in the Organiser, July 29, 2007.

 
The above quotes are just a few examples, taken mostly from the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, which clearly shows the hostility of the sangh parivar towards the principles and values enshrined in the Indian Constitution, demonisation of Christianity and Islam, animosity and hostility towards’s the country’s Christians and Muslims. There is nothing new here.
 
The term Hindutva was coined by Vikram D Savarkar leader of the Hindu Mahasabha a century ago. In his book with the same title, he had argued that India belongs only to those for whom the country was both a pitrubhoomi (fatherland) and punya bhoomi (holy land). Madhav S Golwalker, the second and the longest serving sarsanghchalak (chief) of the RSS (1940-1973) in its 90-year-old history, till date remains the most revered ‘Guru’ of the sangh privar. In his book We, or our nationhood defined first published in 1939, had also asserted that non-Hindus may at best aspire to continue living in his imagined Hindu Rashtra as second class citizens. In the early 1960s, he had identified Muslims, Christians and communists as the three “internal enemies” who are far more dangerous than external enemies and Hindus must guard against them.  
 
Thus, what the leadership and the ideologues argue of the sangh parivar argue today, as may be seen from statements and writings such as those referred to above lie spring from the core ideas of Hindutva formulated a century ago. Even today, the sangh parivar remains committed to turning secular-democratic India in to a Hindu Rashtra.
 
As in case of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch, through the institution of the proposed Rashtriya Isai Manch, the sangh parivar wants to create a forum of RSS-friendly Christians to legitimise its anti-Constitution, anti-secular democratic, anti-minorities world views. It is important to recall that the Rashtriya Muslim Manch was floated in the aftermath of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002 in Gujarat under the watch of then chief minister Narendra Modi and the proclamation by the RSS top leadership that Muslims must have cordial relations with Hindus in the interests of their own safety. It is no less important to remember who Indresh Kumar, the man who is being projected as the RSS face for the proposed Christian front, is. For the Survivors Association of Kandhamal (SAK), Odisha, he along with VHP leader, PravinTogadia are the masterminds of the 2008 mass crimes against the state’s Christians. 
 
Church for combating Fanaticism and fundamentalism
Contrary to the sangh parivar’s baseless allegations of forced or induced conversions, the Church promotes the idea of “building bridges of friendship with the followers of all religions, in order to seek the true good of every person and of society as a whole”. But it also warns against the dangers of religious intolerance, fundamentalism and extremism.
 
In 2013, Cardinal Tauran, president of Justice and Peace Commission affirmed that religious freedom was a sacred and inalienable right, convinced that to deny or limit religious freedom in an arbitrary fashion means cultivating a reductive vision of the human person and rendering impossible the affirmation of an authentic and lasting peace for the whole human family.
 
During his visit to Turkey in 2014, Pope Francis stated: “Fanaticism and fundamentalism, as well as irrational fears which foster misunderstanding and discrimination, need to be countered by the solidarity of all believers. Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue can make an important contribution to attaining this lofty and urgent goal, so that there will be an end to all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism which gravely demean the dignity of every man and woman and exploit religion.
 
Cardinal Parolin, Vatican’s secretary of state is not quite optimistic about the dialogue with fundamentalists: “I don’t think that it’s possible to dialogue with fundamentalists. One can offer to dialogue, but I don’t see many opportunities of establishing a dialogue”.
 
Final Comments
Should the Church join hands with those who believe in a just, equitable and diverse world or should they seek security from communal, hate-filled and violent groups that demonise other religious traditions? This is a very important moment in history when the Church could and should join eminent writers, thinkers, academicians, film makers and civil society who speak for the overwhelming majority of all Indians and who believe in a secular democratic polity which protects and promotes the equal rights and freedoms of all citizens, including the right to freedom of religion. Of course, the Church could and should also engage in dialogue with Hindu religious leaders too. But nothing is to be gained in cozying up with the wolves of the sangh privar parading about in sheep’s clothing.
 
ajaysingho@gmail.com

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It does not happen to “other people”.  It happens to “us”, though this may not be apparent at first sight. This is the sort of saying that social-psychologists, cultural anthropologists and even environmental scientists have been stressing on a range of issues as diverse as the impact of climate change to that of cinema on peoples and communities. Faith communities cannot, and do not, remain untouched with what is happening around them. In fact, their response to these developments pretty much defines their future cohesiveness and growth, and the robustness of their faith in their God. In many ways, the Christian community in India, a mere 2.3 per cent of the population, coalesced in a few areas of Southern and North-Eastern regions of the country and scattered in vulnerable segments in other parts of the country, best reflects this link between cause and effect at a very critical juncture of the nation’s history.

We are a faith of people divide by race, ethnicity, language, denominations and economic strata, unlike the more homogenous populations in other parts of the world. Add to this issues of caste, and the presence of two very large religious communities, the overwhelming Hindu population and the world’s second largest Muslim group, and the Sikhs who are about as many in numbers as the Christians but far more economically and politically powerful, and one can see the complex societal matrix in which followers of Jesus Christ find themselves 15 years into the 21^st century.

The recent universal religious growth survey by the US-based Pew Foundation has predicted a very bright future for Islam, universally, and in India. Globally, by 2050, it may be just a whisker less that the Christian population, but by 2070, it may well be the largest single religious group. In India, Islam will grow and while it becomes the world’s largest national group, it will still be far below the Hindu population, which will hold its own both globally and in the political borders of the country. In fact, Hinduism will grow very much abroad, in the US and Europe, and in other countries, where it already is sizable if not a majority faith, such as Mauritius, and various other Indian Ocean, Pacific and Caribbean islands.  

Pew does not predict any large comparable growth for the Christian population that is organically linked with many international factors, especially in relation of the situation of the Church in Europe. Claims by the more triumphal church plants remain just that – claims. And those Dalits who love Christ by their heart and soul, but understandably also love the benefits accruing from government laws for reservation of seats in the Parliament and legislature, government employment and educational institutions, will continue to be recorded as Hindus in the official records till the Supreme Court outlaws the notorious Section 3 of Article 341 of the Constitution. Going by the statements of the ministers in Mr. Narendra Modi’s cabinet, that does not appear possible for a long, long time. It needs to be remembered that it was the Congress that closed the doors of Dalit Christians anyway. 

It is, however, not an issue of numbers that is important. More important is that neither international nor Indian researchers and missiologists have made any deep study of how political developments, and the growth of Hindutva – which is seeing phenomenal impetus in the second coming of the National Development Alliance (NDA) government with Mr. Modi at the helm — will impact the Christian community in the short and the long term. It impacts almost every sphere, the growth of the faith, the educational, livelihood and economic status and competitiveness, and the future of the Dalit Christian and Adivasi communities within the faith. This needs to be done, and perhaps on an urgent basis. Relationships within village communities, and perhaps even extended families will be impacted. 

The Modi government, it is becoming increasingly clear, intends to remain focused on expanding the national penetration of the religious nationalism ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the fountain-head of Hindutva, whose cadres and polarizing hate campaigns against Muslims and Christians brought it to power a year ago. Its secondary objective is to try to keep alive the flow of foreign investments and the Indian corporate sector, even if it means whittling away whatever safeguards there are to protect the environment, land and forest rights and basic constitutional rights of association, such as trade unions.  

Since May 2014, when the Modi government was sworn in, there has been a marked shift in public discourse. The past 18 months have seen an assault on democratic structures, the education and knowledge system, Human Rights organisations and rights defenders and coercive action using the Intelligence Bureau and systems of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) and passport laws to crack down on NGOs working in areas of empowerment of the marginalised sections of society, including Dalits, Tribals, fishermen and women, and issues of environment, climate, forests, land and water rights. 

Environmental norms have been diminished to an extent that now they will be almost non-existent, threatening the environment and the climate. Land acquisition laws are being changed to benefit crony capital. States such as Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which have reasonable population of Tribal and Dalit Christians will be impacted.

Neither international nor Indian researchers have made any deep study of how political developments, and the growth of Hindutva – which is seeing phenomenal impetus in the second coming of the NDA govt with Modi at the helm — will impact the Christian community in the short and the long term.

The immediate focus is on the threat to secularism, which undermines India’s modern existence as a country, and impacts deeply on the Christian existence. 

Despite a tongue lashing by President Pranab Mukherjee on Republic Day and repeated assertions of freedom of faith by Vice President Hamid Ansari – not counting the naming and shaming done by visiting United States President Barack Obama – the government has learnt little. Modi, at a public function called by the Syro Malabar Catholic church, spoke of security of minorities, but failed to name the sangh parivar as the spruce of much violence. In fact, he put the aggressors and the victims on the same platform.

His Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, a former president of BJP and like Modi, a lifelong member of the RSS, has been transparent in announcing his sympathies. He has called for a national ban on conversions, a national ban on beef, total opposition for Scheduled Caste rights for Dalit Christians and Muslims. And he too has hedged in saying he will punish the spewing of hate and coercion.

The civil society report “300 Days – Documenting Sangh Hate and Communal Violence Under the Narendra Modi Regime” lists 168 targeting Christians. Desecration and destruction of churches, assault on pastors, illegal police detention of church workers, and denial of Constitutional rights of Freedom of Faith aggravate the coercion and terror unleashed in campaigns of Ghar Wapsi and cries of Love Jihad. 

An analysis shows Chhattisgarh topping the list with 28 incidents of crime, followed closely by neighbouring Madhya Pradesh with 26, Uttar Pradesh with 18 and Telangana with 15 incidents. Of the deaths in communally targeted violence, two were killed in Odisha and Telangana, 8 in Gujarat, 12 in Maharashtra, 6 in Karnataka and 25 in Uttar Pradesh. Apart from these, 108 people were killed in Assam in attacks by Bodo militant groups. The violence peaked between August and October 2014 with 56 cases, before zooming up to 25 cases during the Christmas season, including  the burning of the Catholic church of St Sebastian in Dilshad Garden in the national capital New Delhi.

Much of the violence – 54 per cent – is of threats, intimidation, coercion, often with the police looking on. Physical violence constituted a quarter of all cases – 24 per cent – and violence against Christian women, a trend that is increasingly being seen since the carnage in Kandhamal, Odisha, in 2007 and 2008, constituted 11 per cent of the violence. Breaking of statues and the Cross and other acts of desecration were recorded in about 8 per cent of the cases, but many more were also consequent to other forms of violence against institutions.

A disturbing trend is the rising communal violence in West Bengal where the BJP and the RSS have doubled their efforts to fill what they see is a political vacancy following the decline of the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress party in recent times. The violence peaked as was evident in the gang rape of a 72-year-old nun in a convent and school in West Bengal. The official apparatus tried to prove to the world that it was just another crime, committed by foreigners or professional criminals.

168 attacks targeting Christians. Desecration and destruction of churches, assault on pastors, illegal police detention of church workers, and denial of Constitutional rights of freedom of faith aggravate the coercion and terror unleashed in campaigns of Ghar Wapsi and cries of Love Jihad under NDA II

There are fears of a severe whittling down of the 15 Point Programme for Minorities, a lifeline for many severely economic backward communities, and specially their youth seeking higher education and professional training.  

Modi’s conditional ‘assurance’ to religious minorities is challenged and countered by Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful RSS, who asserts, repeatedly, that every Indian is a Hindu, and minorities will have to learn their place in the country. Speaking at the 50^th anniversary of foundation of its religious wing, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak bluntly stated that “Hindutva is the identity of India and it has the capacity to swallow other identities. We just need to restore those capacities.” In Cuttack, he asserted that India is a Hindu state and "citizens of Hindustan should be known as Hindus".  Sadhvi Prachi, a central minister, MPs Sakshi Maharaj and Adityanath are among those urging measures to check Muslims, including encouraging Hindu women to have from four to ten children each. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and other states, the terror, physical violence and social ostracizing of Dalit and Tribal Christians, in particular, continues. 

The Indian government sees an absolute ban on conversions to Christianity as the only way they can control Hindu religious nationalist elements from attacking nuns, clergy and churches, big and small, from the forests of Central India to the national capital, New Delhi. And going by statements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s senior ministers, the first contours of such a law may soon become apparent.  

The discourse reached a fever pitch as Modi prepared his party for the State legislative assembly elections in Bihar, which he lost, and Uttar Pradesh where the BJP, hopes to wrest power. These are among the biggest states in the Union of India, and the only ones in the so-called Cow belt of the Gangetic plains where the party does not control the provincial governments.

The BJP had repeatedly promised such a law made to their core constituency in their successful campaign in the General elections of 2014. This was reviving an unfulfilled dream that dates back to 1978 when Mr. OP Tyagi of the then unified Janata Party moved a private members draft legislation, ironically called the Freedom of Religion Bill, in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament In 1999, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister, revived the debate on the Bill when more than two dozen small churches were destroyed, allegedly by Sangh cadres, in Gujarat’s Dangs region on the eve of Christmas 1998.  

State anti conversion laws have survived Christian challenge in the High Courts, most recently in Himachal Pradesh, and in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has upheld such laws to be valid, maintaining that while citizens had the freedom to choose, or change their faith, the constitutional right to propagate religion did not mean the right to “convert another person to one's own religion.”  

A national law will require an amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees Freedom of Faith. The government is in no position to do so with its minority presence in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House, where it was recently embarrassed when the Opposition forced an amendment to the President of India’s address to the joint session of Parliament.  

The religious minorities have not really been able to forge a united movement against such laws in the states, and it has been left to the Christians to seek recourse in the courts. The Sikh community, despite the violence unleashed against it during a period of insurrectionist terrorism   in the 1970s and the 1980s, has not been impacted. While it attracts many Hindus to its fold, it does not actively seek converts. Muslims in India have not been accused of any magnitude of conversions, other than being repeatedly accused of increasing their population by large and polygamous families. 

Among Christians, prelates of some of the Syrian denominations in Kerala have often said their churches have not been involved in proselytization, blaming it on evangelical groups.  

But increasingly in recent years, human rights and freedom of faith activists within the Christian community, and in civil society, have felt that the fundamental Constitutional right of freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion, circumscribed only by issues of law and order and health, has to be defended to prevent a further erosion of civil liberties which could alter the basic character of Indian democracy.  

India is, at present, perhaps the only real multi-religious and multi-cultural country in Asia. Its neighbouring countries are either theocracies or democracies where the majority religion, linked with ethnicity, is overwhelmingly powerful, as in Sri Lanka which has only recently emerged from a three decade long civil war. Keeping India genuinely secular is important to regional peace.

(The author is a journalist, occasional documentary film maker and social activist)
 

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Excerpts from the report of the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal

Christians are a tiny minority in India. Contrary to the perception that British brought Christianity to India, it is one of the oldest religions of India. Its spread has been slow. Not much was heard against this minority till the decade of the 1990s when suddenly it started being asserted that Christian missionaries are converting. Anti-Christian violence has been occurring more in the remote interior and is accompanied by another phenomenon, that of Ghar Vapasi (return home), which is the conversion of Adivasis into the fold of Hinduism by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)-Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.
It is from 1996 that this phenomenon of conversion/anti-Christian violence has captured the attention of all of us. Suddenly, as if from nowhere has descended the ‘threat of conversion to Christianity’ by force or fraud. Simultaneously, attacks on priests and nuns increased in distant interior places. It has been a peculiar phenomenon that while these attacks in remote places were being undertaken, the Christian institutions in cities – schools, colleges and hospitals – were hard pressed to cope with the demands on their services related to education and health.

The message has been spread that Christian missionaries working in remote places are soft targets and one can get away without much reprisal. Also, the anti-Christian mobilisation of Adivasi youth through cultural manipulation was the groundwork on which the anti-Christian violence could sustain. In the atmosphere created by the activities of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) progeny, local communal groups have felt emboldened to pick up any small issue and to make a violent incident out of it. Its frightening effect on the victims is tremendous. It also begins to polarise the local communities into Christian and non-Christian camps amongst whom the seeds of tension are sown.

The physical violence has been accompanied by cultural manipulation in these areas. The silent work to Hinduise Adivasis through religio-cultural mechanisms has been stepped up from the last three decades. People like Swami Aseemanand (Dangs, Gujarat), Swami Lakshmanananda (Kandhamal, Orissa), followers of Asaram Bapu (Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh), began their work in popularising Hindu gods and goddesses in the region.

The choice of gods/goddesses from the vast pantheon of the Hindu religion was a clever one. Here Shabri (symbol of poverty and deprivation) was the main goddess, the idol for Adivasis. Temples in her name were started and regular Kumbhs (mass religious congregations of Hindus) were organised in her name. Kumbhs have been a tradition in Hinduism at fixed intervals of time on the banks of holy rivers, the Ganges in particular. Modifying that tradition, these Kumbhs were organised in Adivasi areas. Here the work of conversion to Hinduism, the spread of hate against “foreigners”, particularly Christians, was spread. In addition, an atmosphere of terror was created against those who do not toe the line of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

Similarly, the god Hanuman, the foremost devotee of Lord Rama, was also made popular, by spreading his lockets and through different stories around him, in the Ekal (Vidyalaya) schools and Saraswati Shishu Mandirs. It created an atmosphere of divide in the Adivasi areas; Adivasis turned Hindus, the Hindu Dalits and upper castes versus the Christians. It is this atmosphere of divisiveness which has been at the root of the violence in these areas.

The role of state agencies has been no different in these incidents than what it has been in the anti-Muslim violence. In most cases, the administration has looked the other way when communal goons were on the rampage. The administration most often provided enough leeway for them to wreak havoc, indulge in intimidation, violence, and to get away with that.  

It is in this backdrop that when the Kandhamal carnage took place, the offences of RSS affiliates, the lapses and partisan behaviour of the state machinery, the lack of rehabilitation and deliverance of justice, came as a big jolt to the victims and became a matter of concern for human rights groups. The lack of proper investigation and other actions on the part of the state were the key for getting justice for the victims.

Prologue
Thousands of Dalits and Adivasis belonging to the Christian minority community in Kandhamal district of Orissa were victims of organised violence that began in August 2008. According to government figures, during the violence from August to December 2008, in Kandhamal district alone, more than 600 villages were ransacked, 5,600 houses were looted and burnt, 54,000 people were left homeless and 38 people were murdered. Human rights groups estimate that over 100 people were killed, including disabled and elderly persons, children and women. An un-estimated number suffered severe physical injuries and mental trauma. While there are reports of a few women being sexually assaulted, many more such victims are believed to have been intimidated into silence.

Two hundred and ninety-five churches and other places of worship, big and small, were destroyed; 13 schools, colleges, and offices of several non-profit organisations damaged. About 30,000 people were uprooted and lived in relief camps and continue to be displaced. During this period about 2,000 people were forced to renounce their Christian faith. More than 10,000 children had their education severely disrupted due to displacement and fear. Despite the passage of time since August 2008, the situation has not improved. The state administration though continues to claim that Kandhamal is peaceful and has returned to normalcy.

The National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal
The National People’s Tribunal (NPT) on Kandhamal, held in New Delhi on August 22-24, 2010, was organised by the National Solidarity Forum – a countrywide solidarity platform of concerned social activists, media persons, researchers, legal experts, film-makers, artists, writers, scientists and civil society organisations – to assist the victims and survivors of the Kandhamal violence, 2008, to seek justice, accountability and peace and to restore the victim survivors’ right to a dignified life.

 The tribunal heard 45 victims, survivors and their representatives. The victim survivors of the violence narrated their experiences to the tribunal through duly notarised affidavits which were taken officially on record by the panel of jury members. Though the organisers intended that each of the victim survivors would orally present the contents of the affidavit before the tribunal, not all gave oral testimonies, for lack of time.

Except for one woman victim of sexual assault, who gave her testimony to the jury members in camera, all other persons deposed before the tribunal in open proceedings despite being threatened and intimidated against testifying. This report quotes from both the affidavits as well as the oral testimonies of the affected persons, who spoke in Oriya and English, assisted by translators.

In addition to the oral testimonies, the jury members considered all documentation related to each case, consisting of affidavits, court documents, medical and other supporting documents, as well as copies of reports and studies on the violence. A unique feature of this NPT was that the testimonies and depositions by victim survivors of the violence were supplemented by 15 expert testimonies of reports of field surveys, research and fact-finding, as well as statements to the tribunal… This report incorporates and draws upon the contents of all reports and statements presented before the tribunal.
Formal invitations were extended to the ministry of minority affairs, ministry of tribal affairs, ministry of women and child development, ministry of social justice and empowerment, National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Minorities (NCM), National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and National Commission for Women to participate in the proceedings of the tribunal. However, there was no participation from the concerned ministries and commissions.

From August-December 2008, in Kandhamal district alone, over 600 villages were ransacked, 5,600 houses looted and burnt and 54,000 people left homeless. Human rights groups estimate that over 100 people were killed. Several suffered severe physical injuries and women were sexually assaulted. About 30,000 people continue to be displaced.

On the final day of the tribunal – August 24, 2010 – the panel members of the jury released an interim report which contained its preliminary findings.
The jury of the NPT was headed by Justice AP Shah, former chief justice of the Delhi high court. Joining him as jury members were Harsh Mander (member, National Advisory Council), Mahesh Bhatt (film-maker and activist), Miloon Kothari (former UN special rapporteur on adequate housing), PS Krishnan (retired secretary, government of India), Rabi Das (senior journalist based in Bhubaneswar), Ruth Manorama (women’s and Dalit rights activist), Sukumar Muralidharan (Delhi-based freelance journalist), Syeda Hameed (member, Planning Commission, government of India), Vahida Nainar (expert on international law, mass crimes and gender), Vinod Raina (scientist and social activist with a specific focus on right to education), Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat (former chief of naval staff) and Vrinda Grover (advocate, Delhi high court).

Context of communal politics in Orissa
The historic context of the Kandhamal violence is located in the spread of Hindutva ideology. In 2002, following the carnage of Muslims in Gujarat, Hindu nationalists gave a call to transform Orissa into Hindutva’s next laboratory. It is only since then that concerned individuals and groups began seriously studying the reach of Hindu nationalism in Orissa. Following the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 that killed over 2,000 Muslims and destroyed the community, a targeted attack on the Christian minority in Orissa was a disaster-in-waiting. The potential of manipulating the tense dynamics of the relationship between the Dalit and the Adivasi communities to serve the goals of religious fanatics made Kandhamal an ideal site for such an attack.

The sangh parivar has a visible presence in 25 of the 30 districts in Orissa. They consolidated their reach and influence with the support of the institutions of the government of Orissa, and Hindu nationalists in the state. In October 2002 a Shiv Sena unit in Balasore district in Orissa declared that it had formed the first Hindu “suicide squad” to train youth for high-risk assignments. The RSS operates 6,000 shakhas (cells) in Orissa with more than 1,75,000 cadres and a growing general membership. The VHP has more than 1,50,000 primary workers in Orissa. The Bajrang Dal has more than 60,000 activists working as leaders through 200 akharas (training centres) in the state.

The sangh parivar has amassed between 35 and 40 major organisations with numerous branches (including paramilitary hate camps and charitable, religious, educational, political and development organisations), with a massive base of a few million persons operating at every level of society, ranging from, and connecting, villages to cities, in their campaign to “Hinduise” Orissa.

Socio-economic profile of Kandhamal
Kandhamal is among the poorest districts of Orissa. It stands 29th out of Orissa’s 30 districts on the UNDP’s human development index. The Hindutva forces allege that because of low per capita income, the tribals of Kandhamal district have become easy targets for missionaries.
Kandhamal is located in the heart of Orissa. Present-day Kandhamal was formed as a district in 1994 from the earlier Phulbani district. It consists of about 2,415 villages. Because of its hilly forested areas, it has poor connectivity with other districts. Only 12 per cent of its total area is cultivable. About 71 per cent comprises forests and the rest is barren land.

Statistics presented to the tribunal on the livelihood of the people in Kandhamal prior to the violence indicate that 78 per cent of the population depended on daily wage labour and other ancillary jobs (including small businesses, private and government jobs) and 22 per cent of the population earned their livelihood from agriculture.

The Christian community is economically disenfranchised in Kandhamal. A majority of the Christian population, including local Christian leaders, are landless or marginal landholders with an average holding of half an acre per family. Christian leaders assert that the church does not convert under duress or offer money in lieu of conversions. In the 1960s and 1970s many Adivasis benefited from the services of education, health care and employment provided by the Christian missionaries. The exposure to Christianity in the course of such access to services may have led some to convert their religion.
Adivasis and Dalits are not religious but ethnic groups. Adivasis are primarily animists and do not fall in the category of religion as a social phenomenon in the same way as Christians, Muslims and Hindus. However, the sangh parivar considers Adivasis to be Hindus and where they have adopted religions other than Hinduism, they have become targets for reconversion. More than 90 per cent of the Dalits in Kandhamal, otherwise known as Panas, are Christians. The Dalits are poorer than the Adivasis and have no access to resources. However, Kondhs – the Adivasis in Kandhamal – are also a disenfranchised community; 78 per cent of the Adivasis in Kandhamal live below the poverty line.

The Panas are designated as scheduled castes (SCs), comprise about 17 per cent of the district population and hold nine per cent of the cultivable land. By contrast, the tribal Kondhs, who are designated as scheduled tribes (STs), own about 77 per cent of the cultivable land. To increase their access to land and to avail of benefits, the Phulbani Kui Janakalyan Samiti, acting on behalf of the Panas, moved the Orissa high court seeking an order to be categorised as scheduled tribes. Tribal categorisation would allow Panas to buy tribal land and provide them with benefits such as reservation of jobs, education, regularise disputed land, etc. Irrespective of the outcome of this plea, it is a cause for serious concern for the Kondhs, since any addition to the list of STs without increasing the benefits given to STs as a whole would eat into their rights.

The predicament of the Panas however is no less a matter of concern. An anomaly in the definition of scheduled castes in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 issued by the president of India is that the scheduled castes who convert to religions other than Hinduism are no longer regarded among scheduled castes. Subsequent amendments to the presidential order have permitted conversion to Buddhism and Sikhism without a loss of SC status but not conversion to Christianity or Islam. As a result, a scheduled caste person loses his/her SC status upon conversion to Christianity. Conversely, scheduled tribes have rights to land and reservations that they do not lose upon conversion to any religion.

The 1950 order has caused many Christian Panas to lose their rights to reservations and other benefits that they were entitled to as SCs. It is in this context that allegations are made against the Panas, of using fake certificates to avail of SC benefits despite conversion to Christianity. There is however no information on how widespread the practice is. The practice is nevertheless alleged to be prevalent in all states and is rooted in the unreasonable character of the 1950 order. While the sangh parivar claims the demand for reservation benefits by converted Panas to be the root of the problem, the fact that both Dalit and Adivasi Christians have been at the receiving end of the violence exposes the hollow nature of this claim.

Socioculturally, there is a tradition of friendly interaction in Kandhamal among people across boundaries – Hindus and Christians, Adivasis and Dalits. Both Adivasis and Dalits speak the same Kui language and despite the politicisation and subsequent construction of oppositional identities, there are intermarriages among tribal Kondhs and Dalit Kondhs. Hindus and Christians have also lived side by side and for many of them, it is the outside Oriyas (mainly caste Hindus, some of whom are members of the sangh parivar) who have instigated conflicts between Adivasis and Dalits or Hindus and Christians so that their continued exploitation of local resources and domination of local politics and economy remains unchallenged. In Hinduising the Kondh Adivasis and polarising relations between them and the Pana Dalit Christians, the sangh parivar engineered rivalries between these two communities.

A desecrated statue of Mary at Mount Carmel Convent, Orissa 2007

Violence in Kandhamal, December 2007
The violence in Kandhamal in December 2007 and that which commenced in August 2008 were interconnected as events in the Hindu nationalist targeting of the Christian minority community in Orissa. Between December 24 and 26, 2007 a total of five parish churches, 48 village churches, five convents, four presbyteries, seven hostels, one vocational training centre and one leprosy centre were burnt and destroyed. Over 500 houses were burnt, looted or destroyed; 126 shops/other properties were destroyed. Several were killed and injured.

Swami Lakshmanananda’s murder, August 2008
The purported trigger for the violence in Kandhamal commencing on August 24, 2008 was the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda the previous day. On the evening of Saturday, August 23, 2008 Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was killed at his ashram in Jalespata in Kandhamal district along with four others, including three fellow leaders of the VHP. The swami had lodged a first information report (FIR) 48 hours prior to the attack, seeking adequate security arrangements, based on letters of threat to his life. The attackers, estimated at 30 gunmen, were suspected Maoist insurgents, based on the manner of the attack and a letter found at the ashram. The government announced a special investigation into the attack.

Despite the media’s announcement the next day, quoting police sources, that Maoist involvement in the killings was suspected, the sangh parivar, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Orissa, alleged that “extremist Christian groups” were responsible for the violence. They cited Lakshmanananda’s claims that Christians were trying to eliminate him for his opposition to conversion and had attacked him eight times in the past. On August 28, 2008 some media outlets, the VHP office in Gajapati district of Orissa and the Bajrang Dal received a letter from a Maoist group. Soon after the appearance of the said letter, Azad – a leader of the Maoist People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army – claimed responsibility for the murder of Lakshmanananda. A leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Sabyasachi Panda, also claimed that they had killed the swami and four of his disciples. However, on October 7, 2008 the Orissa police announced that they had arrested three Christians in connection with the murders. As the media reported, there was no post-mortem done on any of the four bodies of the deceased persons.

While a Maoist group claimed responsibility for his killing, Maoist groups had largely not been operational in the riot-impacted areas. The swami had been involved in creating a confrontational situation between Hindutva workers, Adivasis and Maoists in the area. In mid-September 2008 national RSS leader, KS Sudarshan, alleged the involvement of “foreign hands” in the mobilisation of the church and Maoists against Hindus. Maoists began to be uniformly named as “terrorists” and certain members of the Christian community who were associated with Maoists were labelled “Christian Maoists”.
History of attacks against Christians in Orissa

A history of attacks against members of the Christian community in Orissa between 1986 and 2004 was presented by Fr Ajay Singh to the tribunal, illustrating that the 2008 violence in Kandhamal was not the first or the only instance of attacks on Christians in the state.
Many victim survivors who testified before the tribunal had suffered attacks both during the December 2007 violence as well as the August 2008 violence.

Between July and December 2007, Hindutva forces organised rallies that travelled across Kandhamal, raising sentiments against Christians in the district. In December 2007, massive attacks took place, causing several deaths, looting of, damage to and destruction of several hundred houses, churches, shops, educational and health institutions. The violence that commenced in August 2008 is thus a part of the continued attacks on Christians perpetrated by Hindutva forces.

Forms of violence
Physical violence
Some narratives of victim survivors before the tribunal contained references to multiple killings and brutal assaults, indicating the widespread nature of such violence. Indira Digal’s testimony below contained such references:
“On August 26, 2008 an armed mob of more than 4,000 people came again to the village, encircling the area from all directions… Christian people desperately escaped, running into forests, trying to save their lives. The culprits did not leave them any chance for running away. This time the rioters had plenty of guns in addition to axes, daggers, swords. They used their weapons, shot and killed two Christians, Prafulla Nayak, 55, and Ajaba Digal, 20. The murderers did not stop their atrocities and a woman named Sulochana received a deep cut on the head with a dagger.

“I, with other Christians, reached the Orissa State Armed Police camp at the school of the village. During this escape seven more persons [Prasad Digal, Gilap Nayak, Choi Nayak, Prafulla Nayak, Ratikant Digal, Ajab Nayak and one more] were shot and sustained grievous injuries. Later, they were taken to the hospital for treatment and were saved.

“In addition, some members of the mob caught hold of a young girl named Manini Digal, aged about 20. They removed her clothes and made her naked in public view. They even tried to rape her publicly but she protested and resisted. Thereafter, in lust and anger, they poured kerosene/diesel on her and set fire to her body. The lonely girl suffered alone with all these humiliations and pain while the antisocial people were enjoying her suffering. Though her life is saved, she is more than 60 per cent burnt and is under treatment…” (Indira Digal)

Many people were killed or grievously injured due to the assaults by violent mobs. A woman from Petapanga village in Raikia block narrated to a team from Nirmala Niketan College that her eldest brother was stopped by some people who asked him if he was a Christian. When he said yes, they killed him. When the family received his body, they found 27 stab wounds on it, all made by different weapons. There were also burns on his body. The family learnt that they stabbed him and then dragged his body around before trying to burn it.

There are several narratives which speak of sexual and gender-based violence. The attack on Sulokshana, a permanent resident of Barakhama village, Balliguda block, is one such case. Sulokshana said that when she was in her relative’s house, around 50 attackers entered the house and attacked all the people in the house. A 20-year old girl was being raped by five-six of the attackers. Sulokshana was hiding in the house but seeing the girl’s condition, she intervened to rescue her but was in turn also attacked. Sulokshana was sexually abused by the attackers who severely assaulted her on her abdomen. She was assaulted at five places on her head with an axe, became unconscious and was admitted to the government hospital at Phulbani for five days. Due to the severity of the injuries, she was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Berhampur. She has undergone three surgeries, including of her head and stomach.

The Jan Vikas, Orissa, report stated that although 86 people across the district were killed over a period of 120 days, proving how fearlessly and freely people were attacked, the government has confirmed a total death toll of 54 people who have been considered for death compensation. The Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), New Delhi, report, based on various figures stated by different sources, states that between 75 and 123 people were killed and many more injured.

Psychological violence
Among the facets of the psychological violence faced by the victim survivors is the continued threat, intimidation and insecurity, causing obstacles to their return to their places of habitual residence, forcing victim survivors to reside in hiding or preventing a life of dignity and peace upon their return.
The National Commission for Minorities, which visited Kandhamal in September 2008 and interacted with victim survivors in the relief camps, made the following observation in its report: “In every camp I visited, the main feeling was one of despair and hopelessness at the cruel turn of events. Practically everyone complained of the threats they had received that their return to their homes was predicated on their acceptance of the Hindu religion. I was even shown a letter addressed by name to one woman, stating that the only way she could return to her home and property again was if she returned to the village as Hindu.”

While all victim survivors suffered psychological violence pursuant to personal attacks or attacks/killings of their family members or by witnessing the brutal violence perpetrated on others, the mental trauma and other psychosocial problems faced by children and women has been particularly marked yet largely ignored.

Burning of residential premises
During the violence in Kandhamal residential property of Dalit and Adivasi Christians was burnt, destroyed entirely or damaged extensively. An illustrative example is that of Gajanan Digal of Shankarakhol village, Tikabali block, whose house was completely burnt down during the violence.
After conducting a household survey in Kandhamal district, Jan Vikas said that close to 5,000 houses were ruined – it puts the figure of fully and partially damaged houses at 4,864 while the government data states it to be 4,588.

Vandalism and looting of movable property
The vandalism and destruction of movable properties such as household articles, valuables, documents and certificates and looting of ornaments and cash was a recurring experience in survivor testimonies of the violence. Chanchla Nayak deposed to the tribunal as follows: “…a large crowd of about 3,000 people led by leaders of the Bajrang Dal such as Rinku Mishra, Chaita Bindhani, Dhiru Sahoo, Bhagwan Panda, began to attack and loot our houses. Once again we Christians tried to escape from the village, Barakhama. The rioters looted, destroyed and set fire to my house. All valuables of my family, including certificates, documents, money, ornaments and utensils, were completely destroyed.”

The importance given by victim survivors to their valuable documents is in complete contrast to the callous attitude of the police in registering such complaints, as is apparent from Rajnikant’s experience. Rajnikant Pradhan of Bapuria village fled from his house along with his wife as the violence started. In his hurry to flee, he could not carry valuable documents such as his vehicle registration papers, driving licence and his wife’s education certificates. He tried to register a complaint about the lost documents and household possessions at G. Udayagiri. He was asked to visit the police station a second time, only to be shunted to Tikabali police station and thereafter to Sarangada police station, on the pretext that Bapuria did not fall within the jurisdictions of the former two police stations. Despite repeated attempts, the police at Sarangada police station refused to register his complaint and are quoted to have informed him that they were taking complaints “only about those who have gone up (been killed)” and directed him to return to the relief camp.

Between July-December 2007, Hindutva forces organised rallies across Kandhamal, raising sentiments against Christians in the district. In December 2007, massive attacks took place, causing several deaths, looting, damage and destruction of several hundred houses, churches, shops, educational and health institutions. The violence in 2008 is thus a part of the continued attacks on Christians perpetrated by Hindutva forces.

Destruction and damage of places of worship
Many churches and prayer halls were damaged and destroyed and the religious artefacts desecrated. The Jan Vikas survey indicates that at least 264 churches and prayer halls were damaged while the government data states that 196 such places of worship were damaged. The Jan Vikas and MARG reports contain many photographs of damaged and destroyed places of worship of the Christian community.

Fr Basil Kullu’s description of the manner in which the Catholic church at Madhupur, Bargarh district, was attacked by the violent mob is perhaps representative of the nature of violence perpetrated: “…They started destroying the Kanski Dungri Maria grotto (Mother Mary’s statue), which the faithful venerate and respect. Then they came to the church, broke open and got inside the church and destroyed, damaged and defiled sacred articles, statues, places of worship, etc. They also burnt all the valuable documents, utensils, household items, clothes, boxes of the poor SC/ST children who were in the hostels. In front of the police and the deputed magistrate the rioters destroyed, burnt and ransacked everything, whatever they could in two hours. Many valuables were stolen. They completely destroyed the church, priest’s residence, hostels, convent, dispensary and Maria grottos.”

In addition to residential property and religious (Christian) institutions, it has been reported that many philanthropic institutions such as schools, orphanages, old age homes, leprosy homes, dispensaries, tuberculosis sanatoriums and NGO establishments were also looted, razed to the ground, burnt down and damaged.

Forced conversions
The MARG report states that during the violence in Kandhamal that commenced on August 25, 2008 there were reports of thousands of Christians being chased and herded in groups into Hindu temples and forced to undergo ‘reconversion’ ceremonies with their heads tonsured. They were made to drink cow-dung water as a mark of ‘purification’ and some of them were forced to burn Bibles or damage churches to prove that they had forsaken the Christian faith.

The ‘reconverted’ Christians were forced to sign ‘voluntary declarations’ stating that they were becoming Hindus voluntarily – a condition required by the anti-conversion law in Orissa. Others speak of being forcibly reconverted in order to save their families, after having been called to meetings where deadly weapons such as axes, swords and iron rods were displayed. They were asked to sign a piece of paper saying that they were “renouncing foreign religion”. The ‘converted’ were also forced to loudly say “Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Rama)” and “Jai Bajrang Bali (Hail Hanuman)”.

Scale of violence
The Jan Vikas report categorically states that more than 25,000 people have been direct victims who lost their family members, houses, properties and livestock. Valuables were looted, trees were felled, wells and water sources damaged, crops and cattle stolen; and hundreds of philanthropic institutions such as schools, orphanages, old age homes, leprosy homes, dispensaries, tuberculosis sanatoriums and NGO establishments were looted, razed to the ground or burnt down; and public/community infrastructure such as hostels, hospitals, community halls and anganwadi kendras (women and child care centres) were considerably damaged.

In addition to the statistics, the scale of violence can be discerned from the many testimonies of victim survivors who referred to the size of the mobs that attacked their villages. Chanchla Nayak informed the tribunal that a mob of more than 4,000 people came to their village, encircling the area from all directions. Prakash Kumar Nayak stated to the tribunal that a mob of more than 3,000 people approached their village. Manyabar Nayak spoke of a mob of more than 2,000 rioters who approached his village. Narasingho Digal witnessed a mob of 500-600 people approach his village. Lalit Digal, permanent resident of Sindrigaon village, Balliguda block, narrated that a mob of about 5,000-7,000 RSS men entered the village and broke all the 36 Christian houses in about 10 minutes. Sandhya Rani of Rudangia village told the Loyola College, Chennai, team that a large mob of about 10,000 people attacked their village from all four directions, leaving them very little scope for escape.

Brutality
One of the distinctive features of the violence in Kandhamal is the extreme brutality of the violence. Many victim survivors spoke of the brutality their family members were subjected to. Ranchi Pradhan of Tiangia village, G. Udayagiri block, narrated that her son Dasarotha Pradhan was killed for supporting Christians despite being an RSS activist. His hands and legs were cut off; some attackers assaulted him on his head with an iron rod. When he fell down and died in his neighbour’s house, the house was destroyed. However, his mother, Ranchi Pradhan, retrieved his body and protected it for three days from animals even as it started decomposing.

Attacks on senior citizens, children and pregnant women
The following testimonies indicate that senior citizens were not spared from the brutal violence:
“While running away from the house, I requested my old parents to come with us. But they told me that they are too old and unable to run. They also told me that nobody would harm the old persons. Thus both my parents stayed back at home and were brutally injured in the attack by the rioters… My wounded parents were taken to hospital at G. Udayagiri and then to the Medical College at Berhampur. Upon reaching Berhampur, my father breathed his last.” (Umesh Chandra Nayak)

A woman from Majumaha village in G. Udayagiri block narrated to a team from Nirmala Niketan College how her family had to leave behind at home her 70-year-old mother-in-law who could not walk, when they fled to the forest to escape from the violent mob. When they returned after three to four hours, they found that the perpetrators had stuffed chiwda (beaten rice) into her mouth in an attempt to choke her to death. She was in immense pain but alive. The family members tried to help her but were forced to return to the forest due to the threat to their lives. The old woman died alone, a painful death.
Similarly, children were not spared from being attacked during the violence. Sulokshana of Barakhama village said that her two small children were thrown around among the perpetrators as if they were balls.

Pregnant women were treated with extreme brutality during the violence. For example, the Loyola College report refers to an incident where a five-month pregnant woman was severely assaulted on her stomach and back with a piece of wood till she became senseless.

The jury, in its interim report, highlighted the brutality and heinous nature of the violence in the following words: “The jury records its shock and deep concern for the heinous and brutal manner in which the members of the Christian community, a vast majority of whom are Dalit and tribals, were killed, dismembered, sexually assaulted and tortured.”

Patterns, planning and preparation
The pattern of attacks on property and livelihood emerges from the following testimonies:
“When I returned from the relief camp after 10 months, I discovered that the rioters had burnt down two churches in my village, looted and set fire to all Christian houses. The rioters had looted paddy, goats, chicken and all valuables from Christian homes.” (Nalini Nayak)
Victim survivors’ testimonies repeatedly referred to the perpetrators wearing red headbands, carrying numerous weapons such as axes, daggers, swords, guns, crowbars, pickaxes, lathis, bows and arrows, lighted torches, bombs, petrol and kerosene barrels, trishuls (tridents), tangias (axes), pharsas (pickaxes), bhujalis (daggers) and bars.

Victim survivors also spoke to the tribunal of various aspects of planning and preparation for the attacks. Keshamati Pradhan, a social activist belonging to the Kuidina Forum for Peace and Justice, made the following observations to the tribunal: “It is sahukars [moneylenders] from the towns of different parts of Kandhamal who took the leadership in creating the violence, supplying weapons, arms and explosives like petrol and diesel to some of our people and also used them to create more violence in the district… The Hindu fundamentalists were collecting funds by means of illegal taxes from marketplaces.”

“The rioters were collecting rice and money from members of the Kui Samaj, some non-Christian SCs and STs, businessmen, traders and government employees of their communities since long.” (Premasheela Digal)

Preparatory meetings
Many affected persons referred to meetings held by perpetrators in/near their villages just prior to the attacks:
“The night prior to the attack there was a meeting at Majagada village organised by the accused persons. Next morning, the attackers, at around 6 a.m., came and pulled my father and started abusing, shouting in filthy language and dragged him…” (Narasingho Digal, whose mother, Priyatama Digal, was raped and killed and father, Meghnath Digal, was killed by a violent mob)

Survivor testimonies further referred to the complicity of public officials: “From August 3-20, 2008, I received repeated phone calls from Sohela police station inquiring about the registration numbers, places and number of different churches in my district. I also came to know about the series of meetings of the leaders and members of the Bajrang Dal and RSS which took place in Sohela town through a police official – Mr Sujit Kumar Pradhan of Sohela police station. The police were well aware of these gatherings, where the main agenda was about destroying the Madhupur church and killing me, as I was the church leader.” (Fr Basil Kullu)

A victim sits in the ruins of her home, Orissa 2008

Among members of the Christian community, human rights defenders who had established or worked in non-profit organisations are among those who have been adversely affected by the violence. These persons narrated to the tribunal the manner in which their residences and organisational premises were attacked, damaged, movable property looted, attacks and threats were made to their persons and, in addition, they were threatened by the mobs not to carry on with human rights activism.

Participation of women as perpetrators
A distinctive feature of the violence in Kandhamal is the mass mobilisation of women who formed violent mobs and perpetrated the attacks. Narratives of victim survivors before the tribunal referred to mobs of women attacking their villages. Women who were local leaders of Hindutva organisations had also reportedly convened preparatory meetings in villages where Hindus were instigated to attack Christians.
 
Destruction of evidence
Another distinctive feature of the Kandhamal violence of 2008 was the systematic destruction of evidence of the attacks. The jury of the tribunal specifically observed as follows in the preamble to the interim report: “The deliberate destruction of evidence pertaining to these crimes came to the attention of the jury.”
Some of the killings (attacks) narrated by the victim survivors to the tribunal, in which the evidence had been deliberately destroyed, are as follows:

• The body of Parikhita Nayak was cut into three pieces and burnt by pieces of wood, straw and kerosene; his half-burnt body was buried.
• The body of Rajani Majhi, the warden of an orphanage at Padampur, was burnt and, according to Nicholas Barla, who testified before the tribunal and quoted Fr Edward Sequeira, the lower part of her body was completely burnt so as to destroy all evidence of alleged gang rape.
• Ishwar Digal’s body was cut into three pieces and thrown into the river by the attackers, as witnessed by his wife, Runima Digal.
• Premasheela Digal’s uncle-in-law, Kantheswar Digal, was killed by cutting his throat and his dead body was thrown into the river and recovered only after some days by the police.
• The collector of Bargarh forced Fr Basil Kullu to remove all evidence of damage to and destruction of the Madhupur church and hostels and even sent some persons to clear the debris that was lying in the compound, indicating the nature and extent of the attack.

    
Attacks on Hindus who assisted Christians
It was brought to the notice of the tribunal that Hindu villagers who supported or protected Christians during the violence or tried to facilitate their return to the villages after the violence were also attacked. For example, the testimony of Iswar Digal refers to the killing of Sidheswar Pradhan, a non-Christian local RSS leader aged about 60, who was trying to offer protection to the Christian people and calm down the situation during the violence.

Kamala Sahoo, a Hindu Dalit woman who was a social worker associated with a non-profit organisation named Pollishree, narrated to the tribunal that her house and office were damaged and properties looted. Her son’s shop was also burnt after all the valuables were looted.
Satyabhama Nayak, a resident of Badapanga village, told a team from Loyola College that she had protected priests and nuns from the attacks by providing them food, shelter and clothing and that due to this, her neighbours discriminated against her and refused to assist her in any way.
The alleged sexual assault and brutal killing of Rajani Majhi, an Adivasi Hindu girl, is an instance of other attacks on Hindus. Nicholas Barla, an advocate and human rights defender from Sundargarh district of Orissa, stated to the tribunal details of the burning to death of Rajani Majhi, who was an inhabitant and warden at an orphanage run by Fr Edward Sequeira in Padampur, Bargarh district.

The tribunal also heard, in camera, the testimony of a survivor of gang rape and multiple sexual assaults. The victim survivor, whom this report will refer to as AB, is a Hindu woman who was gang-raped and sexually assaulted as revenge for her Christian uncle’s refusal to convert to Hinduism.
Couples who had inter-religious marriages were also targeted for attacks and threats of attacks. For example, a Christian woman and her Hindu husband were reportedly threatened and asked to leave Rudangia village, Tikabali block – a Hindu-dominated village that they resided in – or they would be killed.

The perpetrators
Almost all the victim survivors who testified before the tribunal described the perpetrators, their religious and organisational affiliation (RSS, BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal), their appearance, the weapons they were bearing as well as the slogans they were shouting when they perpetrated the attack.
The perpetrators were not only men, as is usually the case, but, according to testimonies, consisted of mobs of women too, mainly from the Durga Vahini (women’s wing of the VHP).

Almost all victim survivors who testified before the tribunal have identified and named some of the perpetrators from the mob, including those who led the mobs, by name. The report of Nirmala Niketan College too finds that more than half the women interviewed were able to identify the perpetrators and that they were from the same village or local persons.

Forcible conversions from Christianity to Hinduism
Testimonies of victim survivors of the violence, presented before the tribunal, repeatedly referred to threats of being killed if they did not convert to Hinduism. Some such narratives are produced below:

• “We Christian families were made to gather together and Gaurango Kanhar, Basant Kanhar and Subhash Kanhar threatened to kill us if we did not become Hindus. Due to fear for life, we agreed to become Hindus. Two of our Christian families, under threats, got converted to Hindu religion. Rest of us eight families were forced to sit at the yagna [sacrificial rite] conducted by Hindu priests. We have been warned not to go to church.” (Narahari Kanhar)

The narratives of victim survivors presented before the tribunal also indicate that coercion to convert to Hinduism extended from villages prior to and at the time of the violence, to relief camps set up by the government.
The testimonies presented before the tribunal indicate that there were many victim survivors and their families who were eager to return to their villages from the relief camps partly because of the poor conditions in the camps and partly because their land, property and sources of livelihood were in the villages. However, many who attempted to return to their villages in the hope that normalcy had returned and that they would be able to reintegrate within their communities faced severe threats to convert to Hinduism. Those who did succeed in returning to their villages continue to live in fear of forcible conversions to Hinduism and impending attacks.

Role of the state and democratic institutions
There have been many questions raised about the role and responses of the state while the violence was being unleashed on the Dalit and Adivasi Christians of Kandhamal and other districts in Orissa. Was the state a helpless and powerless victim of the perpetrators? Was it a silent spectator and a mute witness to the orgy of violence and destruction? Or did it actively collude with the perpetrators to violate the human rights of the victim survivors?

Did the state and district administration diligently discharge their responsibilities to prevent the violence and protect human lives and properties, as mandated by the Constitution, domestic and international law? What was the role played by democratic institutions that have been established to safeguard the human rights of the people?

“The biggest question is: why was the procession with the dead body of Lakshmanananda and the communal forces allowed openly by the district administration, covering more than 175 km by [road from] Jalespata to Chakapad, when curfew under Section 144 [Code of Criminal Procedure] had been clamped? Who gave the order? Why was it not stopped and controlled? It was noticed that wherever the said procession went, the dead body was kept in front of Christian institutions and houses and there were inflammatory speeches against Christian communities. At that moment a group of fundamentalists went to kill and burn the houses of Christians…” (Mohini Nayak)

The NCM was also unequivocal in holding the state accountable for failure to prevent the funeral procession of Swami Lakshmanananda which inflamed passions and incited violence. The NCM, in its September 2008 report, observes as follows: “It was obvious that public reaction to the murder of a prominent religious leader like the swamiji would be extreme. Yet when options to be followed after the murder were being considered, there is little evidence that high-level political and official leadership offered guidance and support to the local district administration. Given the near certainty that a procession of over 170 km with the body of the slain leader was bound to arouse huge passions, it would have been proper for the senior leadership of the state to try to persuade the swami’s followers to avoid a long procession and bury him in the ashram where he was murdered. A reasoned analysis of the pros and cons does not appear to have taken place.”

The Jan Vikas report stated that Praveen Togadia, a national leader of the VHP who had been barred from entering different states for his role during the Gujarat carnage 2002, was allowed by the Orissa government to visit the state and the district during a very sensitive period. He arrived on August 25, 2008 and was escorted to travel a 300-km distance by road from Bhubaneswar to Jalespata and lead the procession.

It was further brought to the notice of the tribunal that the Orissa government failed to prevent hateful rumours from being propagated, which had the impact of inciting violence against the Adivasi and Dalit Christian community. The report counters each of the baseless rumours that served to increase the scale, intensity and barbarity of the violence that was unleashed.

Dereliction of duties
The following testimonies presented at the tribunal highlight the failure of the local police in promptly responding to violations and protecting human lives and property:
“On August 27, 2008… some miscreants with lethal weapons entered my house… forcefully dragged my husband, tied him to a nearby tree and burnt him alive in my presence… The incident was reported to the local police station by my son but the police did not turn up… Desperately, I watched the dead body for five days and also tried to protect the body from the dogs which almost consumed half of the body of my husband… The police came after 10 days and the body was taken out of the grave and post-mortem was made. Though I had mentioned specific names of the criminals involved in the incident and the GR case was registered vide No. 263/2008, no main culprits were arrested… No appropriate investigation was conducted… no initiative was taken to recover my looted property…” (Priyatama Nayak)

“Personnel of the local police camping in our village did not do anything to save us. Roads were blocked by rioters by felling trees. Personnel of the CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] and Rapid Action Force [RAF], camped four km away, ran and reached to save us. If they had not arrived, all of us would have been killed and the whole village would have been destroyed.” (Christodas Nayak, whose wife was brutally killed by a violent mob)

In a group interview conducted by Loyola College at Katipada village, the victim survivors said that the homes of 32 Christian families in the village were burnt down. Villagers escaped to the forest and stayed there for three days. They said that the police officers from Balliguda police station were present during the attack but did not help the villagers and that they were silent spectators to the violence because they had some connection with and supported the attackers.

Dereliction of duties of police personnel has been officially acknowledged by the fact that five police officials were reportedly suspended in Sister Meena’s case [of gang rape in Nuagaon] for “misconduct and negligence of duty” on the basis of a joint report filed by the Kandhamal collector Krishan Kumar and superintendent of police (SP) Praveen Kumar. Further, in a letter written by AK Upadhyaya, who works as deputy inspector-general (DIG)-training at the Biju Patnaik State Police Academy, he accuses and names 13 police officials, including former director general of police (DGP) Gopal Nanda, of dereliction of duties in protecting the life and properties of the Christians in Kandhamal. He further recommended withdrawal of medals that had been awarded to four of them.

One of the distinctive features of the violence in Kandhamal is the extreme brutality of the violence… The jury, in its interim report, had recorded its shock and deep concern for the heinous and brutal manner in which the members of the Christian community, a vast majority of whom are Dalit and tribals, were killed, dismembered, sexually assaulted and tortured.

Refusal to register FIRs
Many victim survivors and witnesses deposed before the tribunal that the police had refused to register FIRs or had registered them in a delayed/incomplete manner so as to allow perpetrators to escape accountability. The police had also reportedly failed to take action pursuant to registration of FIRs, including arrest of the accused.

Indifference to the intimidation of victim survivors
According to reports presented before the tribunal, threatening of victim survivors and witnesses has been rampant and has reached an unprecedented level in the context of the Kandhamal violence, leading to a sense of extreme insecurity. Victim survivors narrated to the tribunal their experiences of approaching the authorities for protection from intimidation by perpetrators and their supporters. The following extract is an indication of the state response:

“I have already informed about the ongoing attacks and threatening in writing and also approached personally all the officials concerned like police in-charge officer (OIC), block development officer (BDO), tehsildar, district magistrate and SP, Kandhamal, but no appropriate action has been taken so far. I have also informed the matter to the chief minister of Orissa, DGP and also hon’ble governor of Orissa about the administrative inaction and protection of my life…” (Priyatama Nayak)

Collusion and complicity
In addition to failure to prevent, wilful negligence and dereliction of duty to protect, loss of lives and property, another aspect of state responsibility for the violence in Kandhamal is that of collusion and complicity of government officials prior to, during and in the aftermath of the violence.  
Testimonies of victim survivors indicate that the police and the district administration had prior knowledge of the impending attacks.

“The police and the district administration were aware of the strategies of the rioters before the incident took place because the rioters were organising meetings and rallies in the presence of the police and district administration in many places.” (Premasheela Digal)
Fr Basil Kullu of Madhupur church informed the tribunal that he came to know about a series of meetings of the leaders and members of the Bajrang Dal and RSS which took place in Sohela town through Mr Sujit Kumar Pradhan, a police official attached to Sohela police station. The main agenda of these meetings was how to destroy the Madhupur church and to kill the church leader Fr Basil Kullu. He said that the police was well aware of these gatherings, as Mr Pradhan had taken photos and prepared a CD of it. He questioned as to why nothing was done to prevent the violence despite prior knowledge of the attacks.

Fr Basil Kullu further informed the tribunal that he was repeatedly questioned by officials of Sohela police station about the Madhupur church that he headed, from August 3-20, 2008. He said that it was no coincidence that intensive inquiries about the church were made by the police a few days prior to the attacks and that the inquiries were perhaps a part of the preparation to attack.

Testimonies also pointed to police supporting, shielding and protecting the perpetrators prior to and subsequent to the violence:
“I gave complaints to the police, naming the culprits, but the police are protecting the criminals… The riots are well-planned and executed by the fundamentalists… The police are not taking sufficient action against them.” (Dashrath Digal)
“OIC, Tikabali, Mr Mahapatra, and one Mr Jena (police person) told me two months prior to the communal violence: ‘Your Christian leadership will not work anymore.’ Both of them were silent supporters of such fundamentalists… When the riot was going on, the RAF and CRPF were not utilised by the local police. Some RAF told us that the local police misguide us: When the message is given that in the east the village is burning, then the local police was sending the CRPF and the RAF to the west side. Due to the support of the local police, the communal forces went on killing and burning the Christian community.” (Mohini Nayak)

State participation in the violence was summed up by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights in the following words: “The local government by and large not only stood by and silently watched as the horrendous events were unfolding but in several ways, according to the eyewitnesses, facilitated the gangs indulging in the destruction of human life and valuable property. What followed by way of administrative action – controlling the situation, relief measures for the afflicted and punishing the guilty – could only be described as formal, ritual motions to satisfy the letter of the law.”
Threatening of witnesses and destruction of evidence

Testimonies of victim survivors further highlighted the active role of the local police, tehsildars, BDOs and other local government officials in threatening of witnesses and scuttling of justice and accountability. The testimony of Mohini Nayak is a case in point:
“I am a leader of a women’s group. My house was destroyed by a mob of 300-400 persons led by Manoj Pradhan, the local MLA… As I was giving evidence in court against Manoj Pradhan, I was intimidated and threatened. The tehsildar of Raikia, Mr Reba Sankar Mohapatra, is threatening me, telling that ‘If you give witness against Manoj Pradhan, I will initiate a case against you on Regulation 2 of 1956. So you better withdraw your case.’ Mr Debabrata Jena, the BDO of Raikia, threatened me to withdraw the case against him otherwise he would cut my name from the dealership list and I would be in a problem. The local officers warned me that I and my daughter will be raped in public and forced to leave the village if I gave my testimony as a witness to the crimes committed by Manoj Pradhan.” (Mohini Nayak)

Victim survivors also testified to the fact that the collector had actively connived with the perpetrators by destroying evidence of the violence at the site of violence.
“Only on August 27, the collector, Mr Suresh [Prasad Padhy], came to see but he was not at all feeling sad and was telling that they were thieves, not any religious fanatics. When I asked for police protection, plainly he said: ‘I cannot give for 15 days.’ Instead, he forced me to remove all the things immediately, what was lying there, burnt and scattered. Surprisingly, he sent some people to clean and remove things which were lying in the compound as debris.” (Fr Basil Kullu, chief priest of Madhupur church which was attacked)
Another manner in which public officials participated in the violence is by making false allegations and threats of imposing false charges on victim survivors in order to silence them and prevent them from pursuing justice.

Relief and rehabilitation
The public officials reportedly committed grave dereliction of duty through acts of commission and omission with regard to relief and rehabilitation too. Some aspects are as follows:

• Preventing rescue, relief and rehabilitation activities in Kandhamal;
• Failure to respect the rights of victim survivors in the relief camps;
• Forcible return of victim survivors to their villages; and
• Negative role of public officials in village-level peace committees.
•  

Processes of justice and accountability
Failure and delay in registration of FIRs
Testimonies presented before the tribunal repeatedly spoke of the refusal of the police to register FIRs. Extracts of some testimonies are reproduced below:
“I had sent the FIR to OIC, Sarangada police station, with copies to the subdivisional police officer, Balliguda, SP and collector, Kandhamal, and DIG, Berhampur, by registered post on September 26, 2008. But my FIR has not yet been registered by the police station at Sarangada. The kingpins and the culprits are moving freely and no stringent action has been taken against the accused persons as yet and still there is danger to my life.” (Paul Pradhan)

“I was attacked during the 2008 riot and my house was burnt. I lodged an FIR in the local police station, Tikabali, which was not registered against the accused persons… I have repeatedly sought help from the local police station for my protection but no action was taken in spite of my petition dated May 19, 2010 against the criminals with specific names like Dahia Mallick, Sudhira Pradhan, Ajiban Mallick, Mantu Gauda and Biranchi Behera. My petition was not registered and no action was taken against the accused persons.” (Gajanan Digal)
One of the major actions that the police are duty-bound to take, in pursuance of registration of the FIR, is to arrest the perpetrators. Many victim survivors spoke to the tribunal of the failure of the police to arrest perpetrators despite the fact that the perpetrators were named in the complaints to the police.

False complaints against victim survivors
Victim survivors testified before the tribunal that they had been harassed through the lodging of false and baseless allegations against them or threatened that they would be arrested on false charges if they demanded accountability and continued pursuing justice:
“While we were in the relief camp, the secretary of the Sritiguda gram panchayat illegally entered our camp and told us to become Hindus… He contacted the police and instigated a false case against me for which I was arrested and was in the police station at Balliguda. I contacted the SP and at his intervention, I was set free from the police station. But the false case against me is still going on.” (Manyabar Nayak, resident of Kritingia village, Sarangada block)

Investigations, prosecutions and trials
The factors that have contributed to the scuttling of justice are highlighted in the letters of Sampradayik Hinsa Prapidita Sangathana (Association of Victims of Communal Violence in Kandhamal). The association wrote a letter to Mr Naveen Patnaik, the chief minister of Orissa, where aspects of justice processes in the two fast track courts are highlighted. The relevant paragraphs are reproduced below:

“We are not satisfied with the legal procedures undertaken in the two fast track courts established at Phulbani which seem to be in a hurry to dispose of the cases without proper trial and witness examination…
“In most of the cases finalised in the fast track courts at Phulbani, the accused are acquitted. The quality of the police charge sheets is doubtful and therefore we demand a CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] inquiry into the cases for proper delivery of justice to the innocent people.”

Intimidation of victim survivors and witnesses
The narratives of victim survivors before the tribunal repeatedly referred to intimidation of witnesses with the purpose of scuttling processes of justice. Extracts of some such testimonies are produced below:
“Even in the judicial trial, I was repeatedly threatened by the miscreants not to give witness against the criminals and also pressurised to withdraw the case. Even in April 2010 the miscreants threatened my relatives, to kill me and my family members and also not to allow me to construct my house though it was on patta land, if I don’t withdraw the case… I am in a terrible condition till today. No action has been taken to arrest the criminals and also no protective measures have been arranged for the safety of my life, to lead a normal life in my native place.” (Priyatama Nayak)

Some spoke to the tribunal of how they were forced to live in hiding while pursuing the cases in courts that they were testifying in:
“I have been threatened against giving evidence in the court regarding the murder of my brother… in fear, I do not live in my village and am living in hiding with my family.” (Bipin Nayak)

While some victim survivors have testified in court and continue to live in fear, others spoke about their inability to testify in court if they were not given adequate protection:    
“I have been threatened by Shri Gobardhan Pradhan who is a leader of RSS, VHP and BJP… I am quite unable to give evidence in this case unless I am provided sufficient security.” (Rama Rao Nayak)

Some victim survivors spoke to the tribunal about how they had complained to the judge and the police about the threats and intimidation yet did not receive any assistance:
“Myself and my elder brother have gone to Phulbani to give witness in the fast track court-1. We were threatened by Biswanath Kanhar, Pabira Kanhar and Ajibana Mallick, saying that ‘we will kill you if you give evidence today’. I had complained before the judge and the hon’ble judge advised me to give a complaint to the government advocate. Till now, my life is in danger and the circumstances are not allowing me to go to Phulbani to give a complaint against the above-mentioned people.” (Antaryami Digal)

Acquittals and sentencing
Victim survivors also narrated to the tribunal that due to the destruction of the bodies of the victims, the perpetrators have been convicted for less severe crimes. An illustrative example is the brutal killing of Ishwar Digal. Runima Digal testified to the tribunal that she witnessed her husband’s body being cut into three pieces and thrown into a river by a violent mob. When she managed to take the SP to the spot, nothing was found there. She said: “I identified the accused and had to force the police to arrest the perpetrators. Still only one person was arrested and prosecuted… He was punished for five years for abduction and not for the actual murder, as the prosecution could not prove the murder. None of the people who killed my husband has been made accountable till now. The other accused are absconding.”

Crisis in the justice delivery system
A report of a meeting convened under the banners of the Common Concern and Orissa Manavik Adhikar Suraksha Abhijan on the justice delivery crisis highlights the varied dimensions of processes of justice and accountability that victim survivors have had to contend with.

• “Public prosecutors (PPs) are mostly found biased against the victims;
• In comparison with the skills, influence, clout and number of advocates favouring the accused persons, the strength of advocates needs to be improved;
• Faulty and biased methods of police investigation, framing the charge sheets and presentations in the courts weaken the cases;
• Absence of social and physical security of the victims and witnesses inside and outside the court;
• The provision that in GR cases only public prosecutors can argue, while the victim parties cannot appoint their own advocates privately, does not help the victims in cases where PPs are biased;
• Show of extra favour to the accused by some judges harasses the victims and their counsel;
• Lawyers counselling the victim parties are persuaded not to continue their legal assistance;
• Witnesses are threatened/allured to turn hostile;

Absence of democratic and left parties in comparison to the dominance of the BJP and RSS helps the culprits and corrupts the atmosphere of the courts.”

Relief and humanitarian assistance
Preventing rescue and relief work
The MARG report highlighted the fact that an “appalling feature” of the Kandhamal violence is the blockage of relief material to victim survivors and the prevention of rescue, relief and fact-finding work among them for several months subsequent to the violence. In the context of the December 2007 violence, a notification by Manish Kumar Verma, the collector of Kandhamal, banned the entry of non-profit organisations and humanitarian agencies, including church groups, into the district. The directive was finally quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2008.

However, the quashing did not cause any embarrassment to the district authorities who, subsequent to the August 2008 violence, once again prevented relief agencies, non-profit and charitable organisations from conducting relief work among the victim survivors. On the impact of the ban, the report stated that the state not only abdicated its responsibility towards providing relief measures in a prompt and adequate manner but also ensured that help did not reach the devastated victim survivors and that the attacks against the vulnerable population continued.

Annapoorna Digal narrated that her family had stayed for many days in the jungle without any food and clothing. When they approached a relief camp in Balliguda, they were sent back to their village by the camp officers who told them that there was no place to keep them and that the water in the camp had been poisoned. Subsequently, 30 kg of rice, one kg of dal and a vessel were delivered to their house by the camp officers.

The Jan Vikas report observes that while the administration claimed that the victims are well cared for and protected, these camps were devoid of basic facilities. All religious, cultural, civil and political activities were prohibited in these camps and permission denied to nuns, priests and local nurses for months. Many reports speak of appalling conditions in relief camps and clearly suggest the state government’s indifference to the plight of victim survivors.

The Orissa state government’s act of forcibly closing relief camps before the victim survivors felt secure enough to return to their places of habitual residence or resettle elsewhere is violative of the right of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to safe return or resettlement with dignity, states the MARG report.

Forcible return of victim survivors to their villages
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom/ Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace report, based on the visit of a team to relief camps in January 2009, clearly indicated that state officials were attempting to return the victim survivors to their villages with little regard for their security and that there was a “very strong uneasiness” among victims to return to their villages according to this deadline.

Compensation
The state government had announced a compensation package that included an ex gratia payment of Rs one lakh to the next of kin of the deceased persons. After the August 2008 violence, the ex gratia payment was announced as Rs two lakh per deceased person, to be paid from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Compensation for injury caused during the violence does not feature in the compensation package announced. The central government announced an additional Rs three lakh per deceased person as an ex gratia amount, entitling the next of kin of each deceased person to a total of Rs five lakh.
Referring to the compensation amounts announced, enhanced and awarded in other similar contexts, including the Gujarat carnage of 2002, anti-Sikh violence of 1984 and the Bhagalpur violence of 1989, the MARG report concludes that there are substantial disparities between amounts awarded by the state and central governments in other contexts of communal violence and that of Kandhamal. It highlighted the fact that there are no uniform criteria or principles laid down for compensation to victim survivors of communal violence, as a result of which the grant of compensation is determined arbitrarily by the concerned state governments.

Almost all the victim survivors who testified before the tribunal spoke of the wide disparity between the actual financial loss suffered by them, the compensation they were entitled to and the compensation amounts paid.
 
Compensation for places of worship
The MARG report states that initially the state government had been reluctant to compensate for damage to/destruction of religious institutions, stating that it was against the secular policy of the state to pay any compensation for the religious institutions. Due to the insistence of the NCM, which advocated for monetary compensation to aid the work of repair/reconstruction of the buildings, and directions of the Supreme Court, it announced a (measly) scheme for compensation.

Recommendations
Recommendations are generally made to the state government of Orissa unless otherwise recommended to other authorities.

Socio-economic and cultural rights
1. Apply the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and other livelihood schemes of the state and central government to the affected community without any discrimination on the basis of caste, religion or gender.
2. Implement widow pension schemes and provide government jobs to individuals from families that lost their members in the violence on compassionate grounds. Reinstate/reappoint victim survivors engaged in government jobs prior to the violence and transferred to areas that they perceive to be safe and secure. Soft loans should be provided for commencement of small businesses.
3. Ensure that relief camps meet the minimum international standards of health, hygiene and privacy for IDPs… Provide medical and psychological, particularly trauma, counselling to the victims/survivors, with special attention to the needs of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
4. Incorporate a separate section in the state policy on relief and rehabilitation that conforms to Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, as the guiding principle for all relief and rehabilitation work.
5. Recommend that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes assess the needs of children, Dalits and Adivasis respectively from the affected Christian community in Kandhamal and make recommendations to appropriate agencies at the state and central levels for ensuring their rehabilitation at the earliest.
6. Address educational needs of the children who have suffered displacement as a result of the violence.
7. Address the long-standing problem of landlessness and land alienation of the Dalits and Adivasis in a comprehensive manner through land reform and redistribution.

Legal and judicial process
1. Identify unreported cases of sexual and gender-based violence and include the offence of sexual assault in FIRs in cases where it has been ignored and ensure that they are effectively investigated and prosecuted.
2. Inquire into the acts of all public officials named in this report and pursue stringent disciplinary, administrative and other legal action against them for grave dereliction of duty and for collusion and complicity in the crimes committed by the perpetrators.
3. Strictly enforce Sections 153A and B of the Indian Penal Code to proactively prevent programmes planned by Hindutva forces within the state, that are divisive, propagate hate and incite violence against religious minorities.
4. Constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-examine the already registered FIRs for accuracy, examine registrations of fresh FIRs, the trials that resulted in acquittals due to intimidation and/or lack of evidence and recommend the trials that need be transferred or fresh trials be conducted outside Kandhamal.
5. Appoint special public prosecutors who discharge their duties with professional competence and integrity. At the appellate stage in the Orissa high court a special panel of lawyers to represent the victims of the Kandhamal violence be constituted.
6. Recommend that the State Legal Services Authority set up a legal cell to assist victims in their legal cases and interactions with the police and courts.
7. Provide protection to victims and witnesses before, during and after the trial process, according to the guidelines provided in the judgements of the Delhi and Punjab and Haryana high courts. Take proactive measures to prevent threats of sexual and gender-based violence to women survivors and their daughters and pay attention to the needs of the child witnesses involved in various proceedings related to the Kandhamal violence.
8. Accord special protection to human rights defenders and adequately compensate the damage to their residential and organisational properties.

Reparations
1. Adopt, at the very minimum, the 1984 anti-Sikh and 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat compensation package to enhance the compensation already announced. In addition, victims of sexual and gender-based violence should be included as a ground eligible for compensation and employment.
2. Recognise the right of the internally displaced persons to return home and create enabling conditions to facilitate such safe return in accordance with the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement 2007 and the UN Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons should be effectively implemented.
3. Formulate and implement policies to provide victim survivors full reparations which include compensation, restitution, rehabilitation…
4. Include movable properties in the scheme of compensation.
5. Focus on revival of dignified livelihood options for the affected families and facilitate a resumption of the livelihood they had pursued prior to the violence.
6. Include members of the affected community, particularly women, in all confidence building and peace building initiatives by the state and district administration…

Minority rights
1. Protect the right to religious freedom and clarify that this freedom means and includes the right to remain animist, areligious and/or atheist, and make any form of forced conversion or reconversion illegal.
2. Formulate a policy/programme to urgently address the issue of institutional bias against the minority Christian community in Kandhamal and other parts of Orissa, through a combination of perspective building and stringent action that is intended at upholding the rule of law.
3. Review the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act to ensure that it does not violate the right to religious freedom as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international law.
4. Review the definition of the scheduled castes in the presidential order of 1950, on the basis of the discrimination experienced by members of scheduled castes even after conversion.
5. Implement the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities, issued in the reports of January, April and September 2008, with immediate effect.    

(The final report of the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal, August 22-24, 2010, was released in Bhubaneswar on December 2, 2011.)

Archived from Communalism Combat, January 2012 Year 18    No.163, Cover Story  
 

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