KANDHAMAL UPDATE NOVEMBER 2010

[cathol...@gmail.com]

Economic boycott of Christians in Kandhamal; rampant insecurity as
villagers forced to live as Hindus

From John Dayal
9 November 2010-11-09

[Based on the Report of a Fact Finding group of Activists on the
Social and Economical Boycott of Christians in the Kandhamal district
of Orissa:]

The Collector: of Kandhamal, Orissa, Dr. Krishan Kumar who headed the
district during the anti Christian violence of August-October 2008
which left 100 dead, 5,600 houses burnt and about 56,000 persons
displaced, seems now to be presiding over a well thought out economic
boycott of the minority community. Confronted with the stark reality,
Krishan has taken to blaming the Church and its leadership for being a
hindrance in restoring peace – possibly because they have petitioned
the High Court and the Supreme court of India on issues of justice in
the region.

The economic boyctott of Kondh and Panos Christians in Kandhamal,
which first came to light in the People’s National Tribunal headed by
former Delhi chief justice Shah, held in New Delhi in August this
year, continues to be a source of major harassment of the community, a
fact finding team of social activist and lawyers has discovered in a
field study of the region earlier this month. The preliminary report
was released yesterday.

The fact finding team consisted of four well-known activists led by
Advocate Nicholas Barla, a tribal activist leader, with Advocate
Brother Marcus, a social worker, Jugal Kishore Ranjit, a dalit human
right activist and Ajay Kumar Singh, human right activist. They
visited Kandhamal on 5th of November 2010 to verify the allegations of
social and economical boycotts of Kandhamal Christians. The team
visited four villages of four police stations of three blocks in
violent hit district of Kandhamal in Orissa.

The following is the operative part of the Fact Finding Report and
Update:

Despite the state administration claims of normalcy, what has been
found by the Fact-finding group report reveals a state of lawlessness
and utter fear and sense of insecurity of the persecuted Christians.

The team first visited Gadaguda village under G. Udayagiri police
station under Tikabali that witnessed violence as late as 30th of
October 2008, almost two months after violence was unleashed against
Christian. An elderly couple in their late 70s were axed and then
burnt alive here. Scores of people were injured. One of them, an army
man, has bullets in his hands and thighs. Some are still in tents. The
team interacted with the people of Dakanaju village and nearby
villagers. They included the postman, Sarapanch and a group of
affected Christians. The team was told the Christians of Dakanaju
village were barred from taking water from the government dug well.
The team then met Gadaguda Sarapanch, Sachindra Pradhan and asked
whether he was aware of such instance. Mr. Pradhan told that he was
not aware and would look into the matter and sort out at the
earliest.

The team then headed for Bodimunda village under Tikabali police
station in Tikabali block. They parked the vehicle on the roadside
and headed towards the broken buildings and houses, a sure sign of
wrath of anti-Christian violence. Upon reaching the village, the team
members headed for a pastor’s house as there were hardly anybody seen
on the street amidst the ruins. The pastor, Binod Pradhan (name
changed), welcomed the group to his house and a definite anxiety
reflected on his face. The team found that his house was intact. The
pastor told the group that he has been forced to become a Hindu to
save his old mother, who could not have escaped the violence as she
was not in a position to walk even.

Within minutes of the team’s coming, a person later identified as a
RSS cadre came to the house to enquire about the group. The pastor
informed him that the guests are bank officials as his relative works
in a bank. It was a sign that the team should leave the house soon.

Meanwhile, the team was informed of social and economical boycott
imposed on the Christians by the right wing group RSS, the parent
group of the Bharatiya Janata party, and there would be fines if any
vehicle ferry any Christian be he healthy or sick, or their belongings
from the village to outside or from outside into village. The team
wanted to verify the allegations and went to a house of certain
Bamadev Pradhan, a tribal Christian. Bamadev was lying on the muddy
floor and could not get up as he was struck with paralysis. The family
members told the group that being paralysis man and was suffering from
fever, they looked for a hired auto to take him to a nearby hospital,
Tikabali, 8 kilometres away from the village.

Nobody was ready to come to village and finally a Christian who owned
an auto-rickshaw was almost forced to pick up the paralytic person.
When the hired auto was returning after the drop, it was stopped and
taken away by the RSS elements. The owner took the help of the auto
union, which negotiated for the release of the auto paying fine of one
thousand fifty one rupees (Rs 1,051) and with the assurance that the
auto owner would not ferry any Christian from the village.

The team has started interacting with the paralysed family members for
five minutes, when a Christian villager; Jesaya Nayak entered the
house and informed the team members that it should leave the place as
the situation was volatile.

The team went to another house. A fearful group of Christians had
assembled there and interacted with them. The fearful Christians said,
“We are in a state of shock. Those who have something have moved out
the village and we poor people are left behind. What haunts us and
saddens us is the administration, the BDO and police, who are hand in
glove with RSS. Instead of becoming sensitive to our plight, the
administration wants to deprive us of our basic amenities. They have
banned the local auto-rickshaws, the only means of transportation in
the area from taking Christians passengers. “We are not allowed to
bring housing materials nor food provisions or medicines nor allowed
to buy anything from the local shops. We do not have any shop of our
own. Here, we are struggling to live as human being”, the victims
said. The team enquired whether they had complained it before the
police, the people replied positively and explained the statement of
Inspector in charge, IIC, Tikabali, who said “being a Christian you
have to suffer and there is no option’

The team wanted to meet the auto-rickshaw owner and others who have
been fined. A villager volunteered to join to meet the auto owner, who
has to pay the fine for ferrying the paralytic to the hospital. The
auto-rickshaw owner, a pastor, told the team that he had to pay the
fine one thousand fifty one rupees despite he had to complain to the
police. The team then met Birendra Nayak (name changed and a Hindu
himself), who told the team members that he had to pay Rs 5000 to get
his tractor released as it was transporting the housing materials for
the construction of the house of a Boarder Security Force soldier,
which was destroyed during anti-Christian violence. Birendra Nayak
went on to add, “It is because the local police takes percentage, (a
bribe) and protects the anti-social elements who rule the roost. I
informed the local police, but nothing happened”.

Pushpanjali Nayak, the soldier’s mother said who could be contacted
over the telephone, told the group, “this incident shocked her army
son, who became ill and left the village in disgust. We are presently
living under polythene like a cowshed without roof and floor and
proper wall with little money that we have had managed to collect, yet
we cannot build our houses. We had brought sand for the house and were
taken away by RSS. Our life is hell here”. She continued sobbing as
she narrated. The former pastor, who says that he would openly
practise the faith if situations become normal adds, “The sand that
the tractor brought for the house was taken away to build the temple
in the village”.

Incidentally, there are a group of 15 police persons stationed in the
village and they are mute spectators to these incidents.

The team then headed for Keredi village under Phulbani block and went
to a Christian household. The team found a huge photo of Lord Krishna.
Naresh Digal, an ex-army man (name changed) explained that he had to”
live like a Hindu as they are four households in the locality. The
environment is quite hostile and there is no support from the
administration. He went on to further state that his neighbour, an ex-
army man, had to bear the brunt of RSS people and his house was
destroyed. He filed the complaints and after eight days police came to
see and left the place even without entering the broken house. The
life time earnings of his neighbour are gone. What will he invest on
the family’s future? What is the use of this way of life if there is
no support from anywhere?” The woman, who shared that her cousin has
become a nun, said”we are waiting for the day when we could be free to
practise the religion of our choice. "Not sure when the day would
dawn.”

The team then went to Gandapadar village in Minia gram panchayat in
Phiringia block. It was deep in the interior. It was not difficult to
identify the Christians’ houses. The woman of the house welcomed into
the repaired house. The team saw a huge framed photo of Lord Shiva on
the wall. When asked about the photo, she changed her face and
struggled to explain,” The RSS has given us the photo and a “Tulsi”
plant for worship. We have kept as often they come to check whether we
reconverted to Christianity. We know we can never leave our faith.”
The villagers also stated that almost all the houses in the village
have two photos; that of Jesus and Shiva. Tarabati Digal explained
that there are 10 families still living outside the village.

Signed by Peoples’ Fact Finding Report Team:

Advocate Nicholas Barla, tribal activist leader,
Advocate Marcus, social worker,
Jugal Kishore Ranjit, dalit human right activist
Ajay Kumar Singh, human right activist

8th November 2010, Phulbani, Kandhamal, Orissa