Christmas 2010 update from Kandhamal, India

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A CHRISTMAS UPDATE FROM KANDHAMAL

From John Dayal

Christmas celebrated in Kandhamal villages in Orissa after three years

26 December 2010

Bodimunda village in Kandhamal, Orissa, celebrated Christmas for the
first time in three years. And in Barakhama village several kilometres
away, a strong police posse kept watch as 2,000 Christians prayed a
little distance from where a 500 strong group was “observing” events
that led to death and mass destruction in December 2007, and then
again for seven weeks from 23 August 2008.

Christmas will never be the same ever again in this part of Orissa
which at the peak of the violence saw 54,000 internally displaced
Christians – over 30,000 of them in government refugee camps and the
rest in forests or far away from home. But the people would not be
denied celebrating the birth of Christ – many of them had faced death
when asked to leave thier faith, drink some cow urine and become
Hindus if they wanted to live in their villages.

Midnight Mass had become a memory, but this time two Catholic priests,
a religious brother, the head of the Mother Teresa Sisters in Orissa
and their friends decided to challenge the fear and the “Kui” group of
the dreaded Lambodhar Kahar and celebrated the Christian festival as
it should be.

Fr Ajay Singh, himself born in a hamlet near Brahmanigaon village
which bore the brunt of the 2007 Christians violence, told me on the
phone that there was absolute fear on the Eve of Christmas. There had
been posters and repeated announcements by the Kui Samaj that they
would go ahead with their programme, recalling the Kui programme on 24
December 2007 that was the trigger to the mass violence, and had been
surprisingly allowed by the government authorities. The District
government allowed the programme once again, but this time ensured
there were some policemen to keep guard.

In Delhi, I had been receiving frantic and repeated calls from
contacts in Barakhama and Tikabali who said about the same thing,
urging with me to get the federal government in the national capital
and state authorities in Orissa’s capital Bhubaneswar to ensure that
Christmas passed off peacefully.

On Sunday, Lambodhar Kahar, leader of Kandhamal Kui Samaj, had told
reporters that his group would hold the rallies to honour Mallick, a
tribal villager who had died under mysterious circumstances in
December 2007. Kahar and local Hindu leaders blamed Christians for his
death and wanted to “honour him as a Hindu martyr. “ Mallik had
earlier been accused of pulling down a church. Villagers said Hindu
radicals held secret meetings and distributed leaflets asking people
to congregate in large numbers in every area to observe the “memorial
day.”

St Gabriel Brother Markose, an advocate who from Jharkhand who has
made Kandhamal his temporary home, told me on the phone that in
Bodimunda village, the most tense this week, the Catholic catechist
who was forced to become a Hindu, came back and animated prayers at
the local church. The Catholic community celebrated with a night mass.
The Believers Church repaired their church and celebrated on 25th
during day. Baptists and Pentecostals were still afraid to openly
celebrate Christmas in the hinterland areas.

Br Markose said armed police personnel were deployed and subordinate
officers and senior officials kept on visiting. Towards end of the
mass The Collector and the SP too reached the village.

Fathers Ajay Singh and Nicholas Barla, another priest-lawyer who ahs
been working on human rights and legal issues in the district for some
time, volunteered to say night mass at the sensitive village. Sr Suma
along with other Nuns of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa
was also present.

Br Markose narrated: “Before the Mass as we moved around the village,
we stopped at the only tea shop for tea. All of us from outside took
our cups of tea and the last cup of tea was taken by a person from the
village. Just as he was about to sip the tea, the shop keeper told him
in the local Kui language ‘if you took tea, I will have to pay fine of
Rs. 1000. Hearing this, the villager was returning the cup of tea. I
understood, and told the shop keeper that I would reimburse if he had
to pay fine and I gave him my phone number. If he is fined by
fanatics, he can call me and I will reimburse his expense, of course
it will give me a chance to expose the social boycott of Christians in
that village.”

According to Br Markose, about 10 days ago a Christian woman purchased
'muri' -- puffed rice -- from an old lady. That old lady was imposed a
fine of Rupees 500 for selling muri to a Christian. Since she was too
poor to pay the fine, she pleaded and her fine was reduced to Rs. 100.