On December 24, 2007 when the world was preparing to celebrate Christmas, the Kondhtribal people of Orissa’s
Kandahamal district were getting ready for a 36-hour general strike beginning the next morning. But even as preparations were on, the bomb of hatred that had been ticking for long went off, ripping the communal fabric of the district.
The Kondhtribe has been agitating against the alleged granting of Schedule Tribe (ST) status to Dalits in the district, which has a sizeable Christian population. The vast majority of the Dalits in Kandhamal are Christians whereas only a small section of the tribal population has embraced Christianity. The divide between the tribal people and the Dalits has widened in recent years with the Hindu fundamentalists repeatedly contending that religious conversion was at the root of the trouble in the Central Orissa district.
The Kandhamal trouble apparently began when a prominent VHP leader Lokhanada Sarswati was passing through a village in the morning on 24th December and he noticed a village church was getting decorated for Christmas. He opposed the preparations for Christmas and ordered his security guards to pull down the decorations. Following this, there ensued an argument between the security guard of Lokhaanada and the Christian youths who were decorating the church. Though a peace-meeting was arranged to resolve the problem but Lokhaanada who is known for his anti-Christian diatribe did not agree to it, and on the contrary spread the rumour that he was physically assaulted by the Christians, and communally instigated Hindus to prepare for a ‘revolution.’
On the same day evening more than 400 miscreants of VHP and RSS activists chanting “ Jay Sri Ram” (Victory to Ram: Ram is mythical god for Hindus) with guns, swords, axes and other lethal weapons in their hands broke opened the main gate of Balliguda village church abusing few Christian youth who were busy decorating the church for Christmas. They came running towards the youth shouting, “Kill the Christians, and destroy the Church.” The Christian youths together with the parish priest , nuns, hostel boys, seminarians seeing the barbarous nature of the crowd ran to the near by forest to save their lives.
Lokhaanada, who engineered the attack with the help of Hindu fundamentalist groups like VHP and RSS, continued their assault on Christians for a week non-stop destroying all the Christian properties in Kandmal district. These events from 24th December to 1st January, 2008 are a story of tragedy foretold, of political and official condoning. As the agitating tribal people felled trees on all roads leading to the district on December 24 night to enforce their strike beginning from next day, VHP activists put their organization’s stamp on the Kondh tribe agitation against Christians and went about vandalizing churches and prayer houses.
During the peak of violence a high level political leaders, Human Rights activists, religious leaders from different spectrum of the society and members from All India Christian Council tried to reach out to the victims but they were not allowed by the Kandhamal district officials.
In the Aftermath of the violence, a meeting of All India Christian Council and other activists’ groups was held in Bhubneshawr, at the state capital of Orissa, and a fact finding team was set up. The fact finding team led by Dr. John Dayal, Member of National Integration Council, Government of India, Advocate Nicholas Barla, and Mr. Hemant Nayak made three visits to the district. The first visit on 29th Dec, 2007 was aborted by the superintendent of police in Kandhamal. The fact finding team made two more attempts and visited the area on 1st January and on the 3rd February respectively.
The report says, ‘many families from Kandhamal are still stuck in refugee camps, often without adequate food, and continue to be threatened and victimized by small violent acts, even by police. Four people have been killed and hundreds are critically injured in the violence. A total of 104 churches belonging to a variety of denominations: Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Evangelical and Independent to name a few, were violated and destroyed fully. 5 convents, 4 presbyteries, 7 hostels, 126 Christians’ shops and over 800 Christian houses destroyed/burnt or looted. The police were either absent or failed to intervene, as this minority community was terrorized. Prior to the attack, the radicals severed telephone and electricity lines in the area. In addition, they felled about 2000 trees blocking all access roads. For the radicals the mission was accomplished: the total displacement of a thriving community and destruction of their way of life.’
“This is the biggest violence recorded against Christians in India where a large number of Christian houses burnt, churches, convents and hostels which have been targets of violence. It has forced about 3000 Christian men, women and children to live in two refugee camps, in their own mother land, eating boiled rice not fit for human consumption because of the quantity of sand and grit, and living in the open area without any toilet facilities and medical care.” Says John Dayal who led the fact finding team. “The burning of medical centers and hostels situated among the poorest of poor speaks of a criminal disregard for humanity and the welfare of the people” He added.