Visit to Orissa
 
By
Shabnam Hashmi
 
I went to Orissa for two days as part of a delegation. We were not allowed to 
enter Kandhamal. We met a large number of victims in Bhubaneshwar, met the 
governor and the local civil society members as well as priests of various 
churches. 
 
Visit to Kandhamal next week depends on the fact whether the Govt will permit 
us to go there or not. VHP's Togadia has been allowed to go and add more fuel 
to the fire.
 
This account is based on the testimonies of:
 
8 priests and over 300 families who hid in thick forests without water and 
food, with small hungry children, with thousands of mosquitoes and other 
insects and who walked over 280 kilometers to reach Bhubaneshwar with just the 
set of clothes that they were wearing. It took them 5 days to reach the city. 
 
It is not safe to give the names or addresses of those who testified before us 
as even now VHP and the other Sangh organisations are still attacking the 
villages , burning houses, shops and churches, catching people, tonsuring them, 
forcing them to sign that they have become Hindus.  
 
-------------------------------------------
 
It is an Indian tradition to talk with respect about those who have departed 
from this world. Pray that their soul may rest in peace. 
 
Swami Laxmananda Saraswati was killed on August 23rd, 2008 at the VHP ashram in 
Jalespata, Kandhamal, Orissa. A large number of organisations across India 
condemned the attack and his killing. 
 
While condemning every violent act and his killing there is a need to look at 
his work and message before making him a martyr.
 
The swami came to Kandhamal in 1969. He travelled from village to village 
initially contacting the business community, organising poojas and bhajans, 
which very soon turned into inflammatory messages against the local Christian 
community. Initially in 1970es the attacks came on smaller villages. The first 
organised attack came in 1987. People from 6-7 villages were collected together 
to attack a village which had a large Christian population. Under his 
leadership 16 churches were burnt down in 1986-87. There were 56 cases 
registered for this but Swami was not arrested. Not even under the 'secular' 
governments. The sheer fact that none of the political parties touched him, due 
to their deep concern for the 'Hindu' vote, he got emboldened and his campaigns 
became more aggressive and vicious.
 
While Christians were attacked using the bogey of conversion, the VHP and the 
swami spearheaded the campaign to forcibly convert local animistic Tribals and 
Christian Tribals into Hindus, calling it ghar wapsi or reconversion as if the 
tribals were ever in the Hindu fold. 
 
On January 22, 1999 Graham Stains and his two young sons were burnt to death by 
a Sangh sponsored mob in Keonjhar district of Orissa. Same year in September 
another Christian priest was killed in the village Jamudhi , also in Keonjhar 
district. 
 
After Graham Stains was murdered by the Sangh goons instead of condemning the 
murder the then Prime Minister  Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked for a national 
debate on conversion and within a week of that VHP printed and distributed over 
5 million pamphlets full of vicious propaganda against the Christian minority. 
Similarly when the whole drama of the Shabri Kumbh was going on in the dang 
district of Gujarat where also Christians have been under attack since 1998, 
the VHP distributed vicious Cds against Christians. The distribution of the CDs 
was challenged by us in the Supreme Court through a PIL.  Under the garb of 
doing educational and development work the sangh has opened Vanvasi Kalyan 
Ashrams and Ekal Vidyalaya throughout the tribal belts in Rajasthan, Madhya 
Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa. The VHP alone has over one lakh workers in Orissa. 
There are approximately 6000 RSS shakhas. 
 
On December 24, 2007 violence broke out over Christmas celebrations in 
Kandhamal district. Attackers from VHP/ RSS came with axes, rods etc. hundreds 
of houses, Christian institutions, businesses, and properties were attacked and 
raised to the ground in the violence that continued for over a month. For years 
the administration has ignored the hate campaigns and the violence against the 
Christians. The VHP has not only been in the fore front of these violent 
attacks but has sowed the seeds of hatred by distributing highly provocative 
material against the Christian community. 
 
Swami Laxmananda Saraswati was killed on August 23rd, 2008 allegedly by 
Maoists. VHP declared a bandh on August 25, 2008. His body was taken in a 
procession travelling close to 150 kilometers accompanied by a VHP mob and the 
police and administration. It stopped in front of many churches, raising highly 
abusive and provocative slogans, attacking the churches, Christian institutions 
breaking glasses, furniture, attacking people, while the police looked on 
including the highest officers of the state and the district. 
 
After the December 2007 violence many organisations had come together and 
worked for relief and fought legal battles for the victims. Such organisations 
and individuals were especially targeted. Janvikas office was attacked thrice. 
All five organisations fighting for Dalit human rights were attacked: Janvikas, 
Gramiya Progoti, Pobara, Pollishree, Ajka. Tribal leaders heading the Dalit 
Adivasi Vikas Initiative, Phulbani Action Group and Forum for Peace and Justice 
were attacked. All shops were attacked. The initial number of attackers was 
200-300 which swelled to 500-600. The mob comprised of mainly he business 
community led by hard core VHP leaders. AS the mob moved from one village to 
the second the number increased as local Sangh members kept adding to the mob. 
Some tribals also joined the attackers. Dasrath Pradhan died on the spot and 
Trinath Digal, who had taken out his goats for grazing was chased and his head 
was smashed with a stone. He died. Vikram Naik was attacked. He died after 3 
days. Parikrit Naik was attacked on 25th. He managed to run and hide in the 
forest. After two days in the forest he decided to escape to safety. He was 
caught again and attacked, hacked into two and burnt. 
 
People were taken out from their homes and huddled together and forced to sign 
the papers that they are becoming Hindus or face the consequences. 
 
In Mondosore village around 10am on August 24th people from nearby villages 
gathered with knives, swords, weapons and collected near a temple about 1km 
away from the village. They were shouting provocative and abusive slogans 
against the Christians and inciting people to attack them. The mob blocked all 
the routes for going out from the village by felling huge logs and tree trunks 
on the roads. A huge mob gathered by now near the Shiv temple. The priest and 
nuns from the church ran to the jungle but they came back at 7pm once it was 
dark. Some people advised them to leave so they went to padri village. But the 
mobs came to know about their hiding places and they had to leave again, this 
time splitting in two groups and changing their hiding places but with no luck. 
No place was safe. The people who gave them shelter, including local tribals, 
their lives were threatened. The priest was escorted by a local man with a 
knife to the forest after crossing a stream. During the night about 60 women 
and children came to the same forest to hide and the nuns from the church also 
found their way to the forest hiding place. There was a hut nearby where 
everyone crowded in but there was no place even to sit. Around midnight the 
church bell started ringing. This was a signal that things were not right. The 
whole group moved to another area near the village but still under cover. They 
could see the village shops on fire, they could hear small bombs, shouting & 
screaming. More people came towards the forest to escape the attack. Through 
them came the news of shops belonging to Christians being burnt and one person 
was killed by the attackers. 
 
Around 6am the priest, 4 nuns and two orphan children decided to move to 
another place. They started walking, climbing mountains. Till 3 pm they walked 
for10kilometers and not reaching anywhere. Then they decided to rather die than 
get lost in the forest. When they came out they were near village Koroda. The 
people stared at them and they thought the end was near when a person on a 
motorcycle came and stopped near them. He was well built and there was a thin 
person at the back. The motorcyclist was a Hindu while the pillion rider a 
Christian. He took turns to transport them to a safer place in turns from where 
they managed to reach Bhubaneshwar. 
 
Another priest from the Phulbani headquarters expecting trouble after the 
swami's killing transferred all the records to his Hindu friends' houses. When 
the procession with the dead body arrived he hid in a nearby house while the 
others were asked to leave and hide behind the church. Sunday morning mob of 
4000 people accompanied the procession. It was 7.30am. DIG, Collector, Police 
accompanied the procession. The mob broke the wall, smashed everything in the 
church and the residence. They started throwing stones. It was after some 
stones hit the police that they started a mild lathi charge. Local youth 
searched for the priest, nuns and other workers. Around 9am another lot came 
and started banging he door. Some of the boys who wee hiding came out and they 
were immediately beaten. The priest hid in a broken toilet. The mob came to the 
house where they were told he was hiding but never checked the toilet so he was 
saved. After one hour he came out on the road and asked for shelter in a house. 
Three houses refused, forth gave him shelter. The mob almost immediately 
reached there. The owners hid him in the kitchen but their house was attacked 
and broken down. Mob left only after 9pm. After they left the priest rushed to 
his house. His land phone was ringing and his assistant was on the line. He was 
hiding in the forest. Using a ladder the priest jumped behind the church and 
with the help of the light from the mobile phone found his was into the forest. 
Tuesday morning they started moving to another place in the forest when they by 
chance came across a hut belonging to a Hindu woman whom the priest had helped 
earlier. She and her daughter took them in, prepared food for them and fed 
them. 
 
27th morning at 4 am they again went back to the church and contacted every 
taxi service but no one agreed to take them. Then the news came that another 
father is severely beaten and is being rushed to Bhubaneshwar in an ambulance. 
The same ambulance brought them to the city along with the patient. 
 
We were able to talk to a few of the hundreds of women, children and men who 
ran from various villages and hid in the forests for days without food. They 
were from 15 different villages but the stories were the same. Their houses 
were attacks by mobs ranging from 300-500 people-all from the surrounding gram 
panchayats and villages. They came with axes and knives, with diesel, blocked 
all exit roots so that no one could escape in any vehicle. Burnt down houses, 
attacked churches, burnt tyres on the roads, beat up people. A young woman said 
that they have been told very clearly that they will be allowed into the 
village if and only if they become Hindus. She reached Bhubaneshwar on 31st 
along with others from the village, walking over 200 kilometres. Many of the 
victims narrated that the violence broke out with the arrival of the swami's 
body in each village. In all instances police was present with the procession. 
 
This account is based only on the testimonies for those who managed to escape 
and reach Bhubaneshwar. The situation is very serious in Orissa and only a full 
fact finding team can come out with full details after it is allowed to enter 
those areas.  
 
A Brief Profile of Violence Unleashed s far (Prepared by Prakash Louis AS ON 
31ST AUGUST 2008)
 
NAME OF BLOCKSNO OF VILLAGESNO OF HOUSEHOLDS AFFECTED
UDYAGIRI                                    36640
RAIKIA                                     551391
TIKABALI                                    25558
DARINGBAD                                    I339
PHIRINGIA                                   25428
CHOKAPADA                                    1090
PHOLBANI                                     4129
BALLIGUDA                                   18555
TUMUDIBANDH                         NOT AVAIILABLE
KOTHAGARH                            NOT AVAILABLE
K NUAGAM                                    18274
TOTAL                                     1944104
NO OF PLACES OF WORRSHIP DAMAGED               50
NO OF SHOPS DESTROYED IN RAIKIA                10
CONVENTS DESTROYED                              4
NO OF BOYS/ GIRLS HOSTEL DESTROYED              5
OTHER INSTITUTIONS DAMAGED                      6
NO OF PRIESTS ATTACKED                          6
NO OF DECEASED PEOPLE IN UDYAGIRI              26

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