2008 Kandhamal violence


The 2008 Kandhamal violence refers to violence between groups led by the Sangh Parivar, and Christians in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, India, in August 2008 after the murder of the Hindu monk Lakshmanananda Saraswati.
Tensions reportedly started with violent incidents over Christmas 2007 which resulted in the burning of over 100 churches and church institutions, including hostels, convents, and over 700 houses. Three persons were also killed during the three days after Christmas. The Hindutva groups and activists of the Kui Samaj were mostly involved in the 2007 attacks.
The violence began after the murder of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati on 23 August. According to government reports the violence resulted in at least 39 people killed, all Christians. More than 395 churches were vandalized or burnt down, over 5,600 houses plundered or burnt down, over 600 villages ransacked and more than 54,000 people left homeless. Reports put the death toll at nearly 100 and suggested more than 40 women were sexually assaulted. Many Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism under threat of violence. This violence was led by the Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the VHP.

Background

Hateful anti-Christian campaigns in Kandhamal had already begun in the late 1960s, and continued for a long time, creating violence against minorities at frequent intervals including the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Kandha–Pana tensions

The Kandhamal district houses more than one lakh Christians where 60% of them converted from the Scheduled Castes and are locally called as the Pana Christians and they speak Kui language like tribal Kondhs or Kandhas. The district has been ethnically divided for decades between the tribal Kui-speaking Kandha tribals, and lower caste Kui-speaking Panas, who occupy a dominant position in their society. The Kui Samaj or the Kui association claimed to represent all the Kandha tribals, who were nearly 52% of the population in the district
The tribal Khonds were historically animists but the extended contact with the Oriya Hindus made them to adopt many aspects of the Hinduism and Hindu culture. The tribal Panas were also animists before their conversion to Christianity.
According to the Constitution, the reservation benefits are removed from the SCs after conversion and the Pana Christians demanded the Scheduled tribe status after the Presidential Order of 2002 which mentioned the Kui tribes in the ST category since they also speak the kui language. This was opposed by the VHP, the Kui Samaj and other political leaders who depend on Hindu tribals to supported their vote bank in the area. These tensions soon transformed into communal.
The Kui Samaj called for a Shutdown on December 25, 2007 to protest against the allowing of ST caste status to the SC Pana Christians. With the shutdowns on Christmas Day, Christians, Christian institutions and Churches targeted by activists belonging to the Kui Samaj and the VHP. Christians were killed and churches were burnt and damaged in the violence during the Christmas of 2007 that slowly calmed down till the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda, which created a massacre during August 2008. The National Commission for minorities reported that the tensions between the Kandha and the Pana tribals were partly responsible for the agitation and violence.

The Sangh Parivar

A senior Home Department official said that the present struggle between the mostly Christian-Dalit Panas and the Kandh tribe, mostly pro-Hindus, was the outcome of the ethnic, social and religious divide that helped Maoists to set up their base. While over 1200 Churches and 400 Christian institutions became an eyesore for Hindutava forces, conversion was also a strong issue that had helped Sangh Parivar to strengthen its roots in Orissa.
American political Scientist, Paul Brass argued that the generally insignificant, local communal conflicts in India are made into larger communal violence by groups he terms as 'conversion specialists'. In his book Constructing Indian Christianities: Culture, Conversion and Caste, Chad M. Bauman argued that the Sangh Parivar leaders followed the same technique in the Kandhamal riots by linking their local politics and clashes with broader national fears like extinction of Hinduism, a Christian demographic increase and even a 'Christian military coup'. Thereby providing justification for the anti-christian violence and also issuing a 'national call to arms' for the defense of the Khandamal Hindus.

December 2007 violence

The Human Rights Watch reported that the first wave of violence occurred on December 24, 2007 during an argument between Christians and Hindus over Christmas celebrations in the Kandhamal district. A Christian group attacked a vehicle belonging to the VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and in retaliation 19 Churches were completely burned down and razed. The Hindutva groups and the activists of the Kui Samaj were mostly involved in the 2007 attacks.
The Kui Samaj and the VHP called for a bandh on December 25 to protest against the granting of ST status to the Pana Christians. The VHP also called for a bandh on Christmas day for the attack on Lakshmananda's car. This led to Clashes between both the groups which continued for days where 837 families lost their houses. A mob of 500 strong attackers also torched a police station and burned the police vehicles and a Congress parliamentarian's house was also attacked. Saffron activists and Kui tribals who opposed the tribal status to the predominantly Christian Pana tribals joined together in the attacks. According to various Non-Governmental Organizations, the VHP exploited the tensions between the Kui Samaj and Pana Christians to propel the Christmas attacks.
From December 24 to 27, 2007, at least three persons were killed and over 100 churches and church institutions, including convents and hostels, about 700 houses and other structures were burnt during in the riots.
On 1 January 2008 further violence was reported at several places. Police said at least 20 houses and shops were torched at Phiringia, Khajuripada, Gochapada and Brahmanigaon by rioters.

Murder of Swami Lakshmanananda

On the evening of Saturday, 23 August 2008, unknown militants entered into the Ashram at around 8.00 p.m. and fired bullets from an AK-47 on the frail body of 84 years old Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati at Jalespata Vanabashi Kanyashram in Kandhmal District of Orissa. After killing him brutally, the proxy militants allegedly also cut various parts of his body by chisel and axe as it appeared. Others who tried to rescue the Swami, namely Sadhwi Bhakti Mata who was overall charge of the Kalyan Ashram, Kishore Baba, Amritanand Baba and a visitor guardian of an inmate of the school, were also killed. The dead body of Bhakti Mata was also defaced and ripped by brutal cut injuries.
The attackers, estimated at thirty gunmen, were suspected of being Maoist insurgents but the Sangh Parivar family blamed it upon local Christian evangelical groups. Both the manner of attack and a letter found at the attack provided the basis for this. The government announced a special investigative probe into the attack.
While the government held the Maoist insurgents of being responsible for the attacks, the Sangh Parivar groups blamed the incident on the Christians. The VHP state general secretary, Gouri Ram Prasad blamed the murder on the Christians and also said that the organization would retaliate on the Christians and also called for a ban on churches in the district.
On October 2008, a senior Maoist leader claimed responsibility for the murder of Laxmanananda and police officials confirmed that the Maoists trained youth in the tribal community to murder Laxmanananda.

Kandhamal Riots

On 25–28 August, Hindu mobs angered by the multiple murders of Saraswati and the four others, also allegedly incited by Manoj Pradhan, an elected state legislator from the Bharatiya Janata Party, set fire to many Christian settlements, and at least 45 people were killed. The violence damaged or destroyed an estimated 1,400 Christian homes and more than 80 places of worship.
In addition, an estimated 18,500 Christians were forced to flee their villages to refugee camps "after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs."
The violence was led by the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Government of Orissa and police, military and paramilitary forces deployed in the state failed to respond efficiently, effectively or appropriately.
To protest the five killings of Hindus including that of Lakshmananda, the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal called for a statewide shutdown on Monday, 25 August 2008. On the same day, rioters attacked a Christian orphanage at Khuntpalli village in Bargarh district. A local Hindu women employee in her 20's was gang-raped and burnt alive by the mob after she was mistaken for a Christian, when the orphanage was set on fire.
The VHP claimed that Hindu people in the area had taken the death of the Swami "very seriously, and now they are going to pay them back." A curfew was imposed in all towns in Kandhamal. Despite this, violence continued in Phulbani, Tumudibandh, Baliguda, Udaygiri, Nuagaon and Tikabali towns. Many others fled into the jungle or into neighbouring districts and states. All nine towns in Kandhamal district were under a curfew, and the police had license to shoot. Curfew was also imposed in Jeypore town of Odisha's Koraput district. Five police personnel were injured in mob violence. The state government sought additional paramilitary forces to combat the continuing violence.
On 28 August, a letter of denial was received by some media houses suspected to be from a Maoist group. While the letter denied that the Central Committee of the Kotagarha branch of the Maoists had approved the attack, it claimed that some Maoists may have been lured by "nefarious elements" to launch the attack. But the local police force continued to maintain that Maoists were behind the operation Soon after the appearance of the aforementioned letter, "Azad", another leader of the splinter Maoist People's Liberation Guerrilla Army group, claimed responsibility for the murder of Lakshmanananda in another letter. Azad was suspected by the police of leading the attack himself. Finally, on 9 September 2008 the Maoists, who work underground, made an official press release claiming responsibility for the killing of Lakshmanananda. Many Maoist sympathizers of south Odisha had initially denied the role of CPI-Maoist in the murder of VHP leaders that sparked off communal violence in Kandhamnal district. Communist Party of India leader Sabyasachi Panda claimed that they killed Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples at his Jalespeta ashram on 23 August, for his Anti-Maoist hate speech, in the state of Odisha and the tribal Kandhamal region in particular.
Finally, on 7 October 2008, the Odisha police announced they arrested three Maoists in connection with the murder of the Swami.
On 16 October 2008, in an interview to PTI the IG police Arun Ray told that "Maoists trained certain youths of the tribal community to eliminate Saraswati", the "tribal community" believed by the Hindu Extremist to be a reference to the converted Christians of the region led to the "Fuel in the Fire" in the riots. The plan to eliminate Lakshmanananda was made in 2007, he added. Elaborating the probe by the crime branch, Ray said investigations also showed that a group had collected money from some villages in Kandhamal which was given to the Maoist group to train their youth for the purpose. The police said that they already arrested three persons, including two tribals and others who belong to the extremist Maoist groups and efforts were now on to arrest the other accused.
District authorities said they had received dozens of complaints of forced conversions to Hinduism. Some victims have put saffron flags atop their home to prevent any future attacks and those sheltered in the refugee camps have been told they can go home only if they become Hindus.
During the Kandhamal riots of 2008, some small villages in rural areas were targeted by extremists. They killed the pastor of Mukundapur, a small village in Gajapati District.

Continued violence

On 1 September 2008 the state government of Odisha claimed that the situation was under control. However, several houses and places of worship were burnt in the riots, especially in worst-hit Kandhamal district. 12,539 people were fed in relief camps, 783 people were fed in two relief camps in Rayagada district. In all, 12 companies of para-military forces, 24 platoons of Odisha State Armed Police, two sections of Armed Police Reserve forces and two teams of Special Operation Group were deployed to control the riots.
On 4 September 2008 a group of nearly 2500 extremists barged into the Tikabali Government High School Relief Camp shouting at the Christian refugees and took away supplies meant for the refugees, while police remained as silent spectators.
On the same day, over 300 VHP incited tribal women attacked a relief camp for the Christian riot victims in Tikabali, demanding food, employment and relief for non-Christian population, who they said had been starving following the 12-day-old curfew order clamped by the district administration to contain communal violence.
On 7 September 2008 VHP leader Praveen Togadia announced that an all-India agitation would be launched if the killers of Saraswati were not arrested. The Church and Christian groups in turn demanded dismissal of the state government.
On 15 September 2008, it was reported that there was an attack on two Hindu temples in Odisha's Sundergarh district. One was attacked on the night of 14 September, and the other 2 weeks earlier.
On 30 September 2008, a Christian nun initially accused the mob of raping her on 25 August at Nuagaon in Kandhamal district but retracted in her statements soon afterwards when a police complaint was lodged and police sources later confirmed: "Though the nun had denied the rape allegation during recording of her statement, she later given a written complaint alleging that she was raped by one person from among the mob". During a press conference she said that a group of unidentified persons, dragged her along with Fr Thomas Chellan to the deserted Jana Vikas building. The priest was doused with petrol and beaten up. She reported that the mob paraded her on the streets in the presence of a dozen policemen Eventually, four men were arrested for the attack, and a senior police office suspended over the delayed investigation. After the complaint was launched, police had a medical examination of the nun carried out, which confirmed her rape. Police sent the clothes of the said nun to the state forensic laboratory for further verification. Police arrested nine people in connection with the crime while the nun in case was in hiding for fear of reprisals. The Crime branch took charge of the probe following a government decision after the medical report.
On 22 October 2008, the Supreme Court of India, rejected an appeal by the Archbishop of Cuttack, Raphael Cheenath, for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident and asked the victim to look at an identity parade of those accused to identify the culprit with the help of the state police itself. Reuters reported the nun's media conference under the headline '40 men gang-raped me, says nun'; though she had made no such statement.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that by March 2009, and at least 3,000 individuals were still in government camps, reportedly because of their inability to return to their family homes unless they “reconvert” to Hinduism. After two weeks, a month long series of "reconversion" rituals and processions with the slained Swami's ashes were announced. There was no immediate police response. Many Christians allegedly took place in these ceremonies due to the fear of additional violence, property destruction and harassment.

Total casualties and damages

Government reports suggested that the violence resulted in at least 39 killed, over 365 Churches vandalized or destroyed, over 5,600 houses were looted or burnt down, 600 villages ransacked and more than 54,000 were left home less. While other reports put the death toll to nearly 100 and suggested more than 40 women were sexually assaulted and many Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism with the threat of violence.
The report by the Centre for Child Rights reported that at least 300 churches were destroyed; 13 Colleges, schools and 5 NGO offices were damaged. About 30,000 people lived in relief camps for months. About 2,000 people were forced to convert to Hinduism.
According to a research by the Kandhamal Committee for Peace and Justice, 395 churches and places of worship and more than 6,500 homes were ransacked and razed to the ground during the August 2008 attacks.
Initial reports suggested that more than 18,000 were injured and 50,000 displaced. Another report said that around 11,000 people were still living in relief camps, as of October 2008. Some tribals even fled away to border districts in neighbouring states. 310 villages were affected with 4,640 homes, 252 churches, and 13 educational institutes torched during attacks. Multiple Hindu temples and an unknown number of Hindus were also killed during the riots, excluding the five Hindu sadhus who were killed in the beginning itself.
On 14 October 2008, Cuttack Archbishop Raphael Cheenath moved the Supreme Court seeking Rs 30 million as compensation to rebuild the demolished and vandalized churches in the riot-hit areas. He also sought Rs 550,000 for the kin of those killed in the riots and compensation of Rs 60,000 to those whose houses were damaged or torched.
On 6 November 2008, Dhanu Pradhana, a VHP activist, was murdered in Kandhamal. He was shot when he was at a school in Kumbharigaon. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader of Eastern Odisha, Prabhat Panigrahi, was killed by Maoist insurgents in late March 2009.
Hindus have also been attacked by members of their own faith, for having Christian relatives. One woman, who is herself a Hindu, says she was gang-raped by her grandparents' neighbors due to her uncle's refusal to renounce his Christian beliefs.

Investigations

A report by the National Commission for Minorities blamed the violence on Sangh Parivar outfits and the Bajrang Dal.
The Director general of police of Gujarat, CP Singh, stated on record that “organisations like the VHP and Bajrang Dal are clearly behind the violence.
The CPM member Basudeb Acharia blamed the Bajrang Dal of the attacks and said that within an hour after the swami's murder the Bajrang Dal and the VHP armed with swords and spears started to attack the Christians and burnt-down their houses.
In a press release made on 21 September, The National Commission for Minorities blamed the Sangh Parivar and Bajrang Dal for the communal violence in states of Karnataka and Odisha. Shafi Qureshi, member of the NCM team stated that the NCM teams had determined activists of Bajrang Dal were involved in these attacks in both in state of Odisha and Karnataka. Condemning the attack on churches in Kandhamal and other areas of Odisha and in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikmagalur and Mangalore in Karnataka, the Commission stressed the need for immediate confidence building measures to allay the fear from the minds of the minorities in both states of Odisha and Karnataka.

Political and legal fallout

At the time of the Kandhamal riots in 2008, the ruling government of Odisha, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, was a coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Biju Janata Dal. In the 147-member state assembly the BJD-BJP combine had 93 members, 32 of whom are from the BJP. Some BJP legislators blamed the government for not providing adequate protection to Saraswati, despite other attempts on his life. They called for withdrawing support from the government, which would lead to its collapse.
In the runup to the 2009 elections, Patnaik broke his ties with the BJP, saying that the alliance in the state had to be broken because it became impossible for him to stay with the BJP after the Kandhanmal riots which "horrified the entire world".
In November 2009, after winning the elections again, this time without the support of the BJP and therefore free from political compulsions, re-elected chief minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, claimed that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were involved in the Kandhamal violence in which at least 38 people were killed.
On 4 September 2008, the Supreme Court of India issued an order on a petition filed by Catholic Archbishop Raphael Cheenath seeking a CBI enquiry and dismissal of the state government. The order refused to dismiss the Odisha state government but asked it to report on steps taken to stop the wave of communal rioting that had claimed at least 16 lives. In his petition, the Archbishop claimed that VHP leader Pravin Togadia carried out a procession with Saraswati's ashes after his cremation, an act that clearly inflamed further communal tension and rioting. The Supreme Court, in its order, asked the state government to file an affidavit explaining the circumstances under which this procession was allowed.
However, it later emerged that Saraswati was never cremated in the first place. As is the tradition of sannyasis, Saraswati was not cremated but instead buried and entombed after death. Since no cremation ever took place, Togadia replied that there was no question of "ashes" being proposed to be carried in any procession at all, and therefore the claims of "asthi kalash yatra" were untrue. He also alleged that Archbishop Raphael Cheenath had therefore "lied under oath to the apex court", because no such procession ever took place.

Arrests and convictions

On 29 June 2010, a fast-track court set up after the Kandhamal riots found Manoj Pradhan, a Bharatiya Janata Party politician and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Odisha, guilty of murder of Parikhita Digal, a Christian from Budedi village who was killed by the mob on 27 August 2008. Manoj Pradhan who was nominated by the BJP while imprisoned pending trial, was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment. However, pending his appeal, he was granted bail
by the High court on 6 July. A number of others have also been sentenced in riot-related cases. On 9 September 2010, another judge found Pradhan guilty in the murder of Bikram Nayak from Budedipada on 26 August 2008. On December 2010, 24 people were convicted.
The Hindutva groups blamed the local Christian tribals for the murder of Lakshmanananda even-though the killers were suspected of being Maoist insurgents by the government. Later a senior Maoist leader claimed responsibility for the murder, the police also confirmed that the Maoists trained tribal youth to carry out the murder.

Response

's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Odisha violence a "shame" and offered all help from the Centre to end the communal clashes and restore normalcy. He said he would speak to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik to urge him to take all necessary steps to end the violence.
The church network - including the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, the Evangelical Fellowship of India and the National Council of Churches in India - organized for all Christian institutions to remain closed on 29 August 2008 in protest.
On Wednesday, 27 August 2008, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the violence and expressed solidarity with the priests, nuns, and laypeople being victimized. He "firmly condemned" the violence and called upon Indian religious and civil authorities "to work together to restore peaceful co-existence and harmony between the different religious communities." In doing so he said: "I learnt with great sorrow the information concerning the violence against the Christian community in Orissa which broke out after the reprehensible assassination of the Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. This led to derisive remarks in the press about the Italian origins of Sonia Gandhi, a Catholic, under whose leadership, the United Progressive Alliance was ruling India at time."
Human Rights Watch, a US-based outfit, expressed extreme dismay at the mob violence against Christians instigated by the VHP. The organization also expressed concern at the state government's lack of action following the Christmas 2007 violence.
's Foreign Ministry called on India's ambassador to demand 'incisive action' to prevent further attacks against Christians.
The National Human Rights Commission of India sought a report from the Odisha government on the ongoing religious violence in the state.
Commission on International Religious Freedom a controversial federal agency advising the US administration has demanded the Indian authorities take immediate steps to quell the violence and order a probe to find out the perpetrators of the attacks.
"The continuing attacks targeting Christians represent the second major outbreak of religious violence in Orissa since December which underlines the pressing need for Indian government to develop preventive strategies," USCIRF said. "State governments must be held accountable for violence and other unlawful acts that occur in their state" Commission Chair Felice D Gaer said in a statement. USCIRF called on the US State Department to urge the central government and its Human Rights and Minority Commissions to continue their investigations, issue reports on the status of their investigations, and take further appropriate measures to address the situation, including ensuring that perpetrators of the violence are brought to account.
expressed concern over the violence against Christians in Odisha and hoped that the ruling government would bring the perpetrators to justice.