Communal Violence in Kandhamal District

On 23rd August around 8.p.m Laxmanananda, the leading figure of Hindutva brigade in Orissa along with his four associates was shot dead by a group of unidentified gunmen at his Jalespeta Ashram in Kandhamal District. He was a member of VHP’s Kendriya Margadarsaka Mandali and widely known for his anti-Christian activities in Kandhamal. 

            Soon after his murder the Govt. officials declared that they are suspecting the role of Maoists behind this killing. But the Sangh leaders instead of waiting for an enquiry immediately alleged that Christian community was behind the killing of Laxmanananda. In a pre-planned manner this anti Christian propaganda was carried out. Even the local media particularly the Oriya T.V channels propagated the same rumour repeatedly. On the same night itself the RSS activists started violent protest in several areas. On 24th also as part of their ongoing protest several vehicles were burnt, churches were ransacked. In some places houses and other properties of Christian community were targeted. On 25th August the VHP called Orissa Bandh against the killing. In the name of observing the Bandh Sangh goons carried out large scale violence against Christian community and common people throughout the state. Beside Kandhamal, in districts like Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput, Sundargarh, Jajpur, Baragarh, Churches, houses and educational institutions of minority community were either completely burnt or ransacked and looted by Hindutva mob. Several incidents of murder and rape were also reported in different places. Even a Hindu tribal lady teacher of an orphanage run by missionaries in Baragarh district was burnt alive along with the orphanage and its caretaker. While the naked dance of death and destruction by these communal forces was going on through out the state, the police and administration, under the instruction of the state Govt., remained mute spectators to these inhuman crimes against innocent people. Even despite curfew the administration allowed the 200 km dead body procession of Laxmanananda in the district knowing well that it will incite communal violence. While Bandh was going on and the administration had imposed curfew in the area, the VHP leader Pravin Tagodia who is well known for his provocative speeches was allowed to enter Kandhamal in the name of attending the last rites of Laxmanananda. During his visit he openly called in presence of Govt. officials for revenge against Christians. Throughout his visit he was allowed to instigate the Sangh activists with his aggressive anti minority speeches, which aggravated the situation very badly.

The RSS-VHP-BJP onslaught against minorities which started on 23rd night is still continuing. Christians, Dalits, Adivasis even lower caste Hindus, no one spared from their violence. Due to large scale violence and burning of houses thousands of poor people of Christian minority and dalit Hindu community have to flee their villages and many of them are taking shelter in the relief camps opened by the administration in nearby towns. As per the official disclosure in Kandhamal district alone 22 people were killed and 25 thousand were rendered homeless in the ongoing violence. Even many people are still missing till today. So the actual figure will be much more if we add the figures of other districts.

Why this onslaught by Sangh parivar ?

The communal attack by Sangh parivar on minority community in Orissa was not spontaneous rather it was a pre-planned one. This is also not the first instance of violence unleashed by them. In Dec.2007 also there was large scale violence unleashed against Christian community on the plea of an attack on Laxmanananda, but it was confined only within Kandhamal district. But this time the communal violence spread across the state. The anti-Christian propaganda and rumours by the Hindutva forces and even in the local media and the simultaneous attacks on churches throughout the state can been seen in this context. Though Christian community constitutes only 2% of the state’s population, there was a continuous campaign against them by Sangh outfits for several years. For the last two decades Sangh Parivar has increased its activities in the tribal pockets of southern and western districts. The electoral success of BJP in these areas are the indication of this development. To win over the majority tribal people to their fold they are continuously carrying out anti-Christian propaganda among them. In Kandhamal district out of total population 52% are tribals, 17% are dalits and others are upper caste Hindus. The tribals of Kandhamal mainly belong to Kui tribe and they are the original inhabitants of the district. They have a history of militant struggles against British rulers in the 1st half of 19th century. The dalits are mainly Pana by caste and were brought by British rulers from neighbouring Ganjam and Nayagarh districts many decades back for clearing forests. Later on most of them converted to Christianity. The other residents of Kandhamal are caste Hindus who mainly came from costal districts of Orissa for doing Govt. jobs and agency business in the last five decades. These people now control the economic activities of the district. Almost all the shops and business establishments in the towns of Kandhamal are owned by these caste Hindus. Since the dalit people came from plains and with the help of missionaries they got some education, they are cleverer than the tribals. But due to non-availability of agricultural land, they have been dependent on the tribal people for their existence from the beginning. They mainly act as middlemen between tribals and the caste Hindu traders or sahukars based in towns. In this process while the sahukars siphon the major share of the profit, the dalit middleman gets a negligible share. So like majority tribals most of these dalits are poor and oppressed. In Kandhamal nearly 20% of the tribals and majority of the dalits are Christians. Not like caste Hindus who stay in towns, these dalits generally stay in tribal villages and speak the tribal language Kui as their own language. So there exists a good relation among them from the beginning. After the entry of Sangh Parivar the caste Hindu business community associated with it for their own security and class interest. Now these caste Hindu business community are the backbone of RSS and its main financer. All the trader associations in market places of the district are controlled by Sangh. The community for their own class interest tried to play the contradiction existing among the two downtrodden communities Kui and Pan of Kandhamal. They tried to Hinduise some tribals who are not Hindus but nature worshipers from the beginning. Through its different organizations like Vanabasi Kalyan Ashram RSS was able to Hinduise a sizeable section of these tribals. Laxmanananda came to Kandhamal four decades ago sent by the RSS and carried out his campaign i.e Hinduisation of tribals and anti-Christian propaganda nearly for four decades ago. All these years he aggressively campaigned against Christians who are mainly dalits. With the financial help of local business community he well played the contradiction between Kui tribals and Pans to safeguard the interest of caste Hindu Sahukars. Like Christian missionaries he established Ashram schools in Chakapada and Jalespeta for tribal students and polluted their minds with communal hatred. As an aggressive communal speaker he was instrumental in many communal riots in the past. So he was not a Sadhu as portrayed by VHP and the media, but a firebrand leader of the hate campaign carried out by Sangh Parivar and sponsored by local traders.

Naveen Pattnaik Govt. is harbouring communal forces

The present dispensation of BJD- BJP of the state came to power with the help of Sangh Parivar. Since the minority vote is very small (2% Christians and 1.5% Muslims) so they are insignificant for the electoral race. Due to this vote bank politics the lives and livelihood of thousands of minority people does not matter for Naveen Pattnaik Govt. It gave a free hand to the communal elements from 24th onwards. While communal leader Tagodia was allowed to enter Kandhamal despite curfew no opposition party leader including minister of state for Home was not allowed to visit Kandhamal. The 25th Aug. Bandh called by VHP was a govt. sponsored one. On 24^th Sept. itself Govt. declared holiday for schools and colleges in the state and instructed the police for restraint and not to use force against the Sangh activists.

Role of Congress

Congress party has always been encouraging the communal forces. Here also as the main opposition party instead of opposing the communal forces straight, it highlighted the law and order issue for which Laxmanananda was killed. Even the union home minister in his visit to the riot hit areas did not utter a word against Sangh outfits. There were reports that in many places Congress workers were actively involved in anti minority riots along with RSS people.

Maoist’s action gave an upperhand to Sangh

Five days after the killing of Laxmanananda and the subsequent violence unleashed by RSS, the CPI (Maoist) party leader Azad gave an interview to a local newspaper and owned the murder. They said since he was responsible for spreading religious hatred among the people, we punished him. But since Maoist did not carry out any propaganda about Laxmanananda earlier and even immediately after the incident and they did not come out confidently about it, the Sangh Parivar could mislead the people that it is not the Maoists but the missionaries who are behind the killing. Maoists’ action instead of suppressing the communal forces gave them an opportunity to carry out large scale attacks on the minority people. Maoists after carrying out this action remained mute spectators while thousands of innocent people were attacked by Sangh Parivar goons. Due to their isolated action Sangh Parivar was able to communalize the whole atmosphere of Orissa and made the RSS as a gainer in this process. Even the minority community became defensive and demanded the hanging of the killers of Laxmanananda through public meetings and rallies. Their action made the 82 year old Laxamananda a martyr for his cause and more popular than before. Even some contradictory statements came from Maoists which made their position confusing.

Role of CPI(ML)-New Democracy

Soon after the communal violence started we were among the first to condemn it. Since it occurred in some of our area, our cadres tried to resist the communal forces from the beginning. In Raikia block’s Gundhani village our activists along with common people militantly resisted the attempt of RSS goons and pushed them back thrice. In T. Govindpur panchayat of Ganjam district when the communal mob suddenly attacked our villages on 24th Aug, our people fled due to unpreparedness. But due to our effort on the next day our comrades along with other nearby villagers organized themselves and gathered at one place with their traditional weapons. Seeing their preparedness RSS people did not dare to attack again. After this incident we lodged 5 FIRs against culprits. Initially the local police was not receiving the FIRs but when we threatened to gherao the police station they had to register them. In certain places where we are a small force and our people were unable to resist the communal elements physically, there we pressurized the local police and administration for deployment of forces to prevent communal attacks. In areas bordering Kandhamal due to our strong presence and vigilance communal forces did not dare to attack. Due to heavy violence in Kandhamal many people particularly from minority community fled their homes in large numbers to neighbouring Ganjam district. We made arrangements to send them to the nearest relief camps opened by the govt. Our people in many areas offered food and shelter to the distressed people also in Indragada panchayt of Raikia block. As a precaution our youth activists in Sorada, Dharakote and Daringbadi blocks gave regular patrolling around the villages with traditional weapons.

CPI(ML)-New Democracy organized a demonstration at the Parliament Street in New Delhi on September 2, 2008 against the communal mayhem unleashed by VHP-RSS-BJP criminal gangs against Christians in Orissa. Holding placards and raising slogans, “Punish the VHP-RSS-BJP criminal gangs in Orissa” and “Naveen Patnaik, Protect citizens or resign”, activists marched with an effigy of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Govt. before burning this effigy. Working class activists, students, youth and intellectuals participated.