Local factors led to Kandhamal violence in Orissa

Local factors led to Kandhamal violence
Ram Madhav

January 08, 2008

For days, one TV Channel ran visuals of how Christians have been targeted
for violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district. Several other so-called
national channels too joined the chorus sufficient enough for Mombattiwalas
(candlelight activists) to plunge into the ring and declare that 'entire
Orissa', if not 'entire India', is in the grip of violence unleashed against
'innocent minorities' by 'Hindu nationalists'.
As a senior leader pointed out to me after a heated TV debate, we have
created a funny nomenclature in our country: if you are a Hindu and defend
your faith, you are a 'Hindu nationalist' a pejorative reminiscent of Nazi
Nationalism. But if you are a Hindu and use your lung power to loudly attack
Hinduism and Hindus for crimes they never committed, then you are a great
'secularist'. Both these stereotypes are a creation of our perverted
political discourse.
Thus every incident of the nature of the Kandhamal one will immediately be
dragged into this Hindu Nationalist Secularist arena and the endless
blame-game continues.
We don't realise that in the process we are not only destroying the image of
our nation but actually perpetrating such violence by not looking
dispassionately into the real reasons behind each and every single incident.
Violence in the name of religion in any form should be opposed by all. It is
unfortunate that we had to end 2007 with one such violent situation in a
district of Orissa. But we must not ignore the fact that Kandhamal is for
that matter many such incidents have been a localised incident; not a
phenomenon as the Candlelight-walas would want us to believe. It is neither
pan-Orissa nor pan-Indian.
'Many feel conversion is not the church's business'
The trouble in Kandhamal started on December 23 when some Christians at
Brahmanigoan village wanted to erect a Christmas gate in front of a Hindu
place of worship. This was resented by the local Hindus who questioned the
motive of the Christians in insisting on building a second gate near a Hindu
place of worship while one gate was already erected at a place where it is
done every year on the eve of Christmas. This led to the initial clashes.
Since Christians were more in number in the said village the Hindus were at
the receiving end.
As the news of clashes reached Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a selfless
Hindu seer working for the socio-economic development of the local people
for over four decades -- he set out for Brahmanigoan on December 24. His car
was attacked by a violent Christian mob in which the seer himself and two of
his followers sustained serious injuries.
Swamiji, 82 years old, has been relentlessly working for the uplift of the
people in the district -- more than 75 per cent of whom are below the
poverty line and illiterate -- since 1967. He has opened schools and
hostels, hospitals and temples to serve mainly the tribals and the
down-trodden.
It was this attack that led to further clashes in the district, as the seer
is highly respected and has innumerable supporters in the district. Four
days of clashes resulted in both sides suffering in various ways -- many
houses were burnt, properties destroyed and physical attacks taking place.
What made things worse in Kandhamal was the open collaboration between the
Christian groups and Naxals. Among those arrested in connection with the
burning down of villages inhabited by Hindus (Brahmanigaon, Jhinjiriguda,
Katingia, and Godapur) were 47 Maoists. Some 20 guns have been recovered by
the security forces from them.
The Kandhamal violence is essentially a localised one, as many such
incidents in the country have been. It is the local factors that play a
predominant role. Animosities were brewing no doubt. But again the reasons
were immediate. There has been a feud between the Kondh tribals and largely
Christian Pana Scheduled Caste people. The Panas, under the leadership of
the local Congress Rajya Sabha member Radhakanta Naik, who is said to be a
convert, have been demanding inclusion of their caste in the Scheduled Tribe
category as they too speak the same Kui language that the ST Kondhs speak.
Christian group demands CBI probe into violence
This argument was rejected by the state government as well as by the courts.
But the agitation in favour of the demand continues under Naik's leadership,
fuelling resentment among the Kondhs who remained largely unaffected by
conversion activity of the Christian missionaries.
However, if there is any one aspect that is pan-Indian in all the incidents
related to Hindu-Christian clashes it is religious conversions. Even in
Kandhamal district, one of the major factors fuelling tensions is the
conversion campaign of the evangelical groups. It is noteworthy that in a
state like Orissa which enacted anti-conversion laws as back as in 1967, the
Christian population in Kandhamal district alone has grown from 6 per cent
in 1970 to 27 per cent in 2001.
The 'aggression' shown by the new age evangelical groups mostly in
predominantly tribal areas in states like Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand,
Gujarat etc has become a major contributor of religious strife. We can't
overlook the fact that in the entire country Christmas was celebrated with a
lot of gaiety with millions -- a lot of Hindus included -- thronging
churches. Hindus, at the core of their belief, are 'omnitheists'. For a
Christian or a Muslim there is 'one god', but for a Hindu there is 'only
god'. For him god is omnipresent, the entire creation is divine
manifestation only.
Religious conversion is an anti-thesis to this belief. There was a time when
at the end of the British Raj the mainstream missionaries in India had
decided to focus more on humanitarian and developmental activity than
conversions. Many still adhere to that concept, confining themselves to
running schools, hospitals etc and serving humanity at the time of need.
However, for the growing breed of 'aggressive' evangelicals, numbers are
very important. 'Harvesting souls' is god's work for them. Means don't
matter. In a very interesting article in Christian Science Monitor (April 1,
2005) Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management
in New Delhi and a renowned intellectual was quoted as saying: 'Aggressive
and unprincipled missionary work that exploits the distress and ignorance of
marginalised groups ... can constitute a catalyst to localised violence,
particularly when they are brought into confrontation with other creeds'.
External link: A new breed of missionary
These 'aggressive' activities of their fellow pastors and fathers have
aggrieved many Christian leaders too. This is what the Christian Science
Monitor article says on those activities:
After the tsunami, the US National Council of Churches issued a statement
warning against the practice by "New Missionaries" of mixing evangelism and
aid. "Often lacking sophistication about the lure of gifts and money, and
wanting to be generous with their resources, they easily fall prey to the
charge of using unethical means to evangelize. This creates a backlash," the
February statement read.
"You get this guy out of Texas who has no idea of the local culture, he is
out to win souls, and he comes with a lot of money," says Bob Alter, former
Presbyterian pastor born and raised in the Indian mountain town of
Mussoorie, and former superintendent of a missionary institution, the
Woodstock School.
The problem with these newer churches, Mr. Alter says, is the tone of their
message. "You have Baptists using the Diwali festival [the Hindu festival of
lights], but they come to 'spread the light to those in darkness.' That is
mighty offensive stuff, when you're out to tear down another religion."
It even quoted one Bishop Chacko, head of the Roman Catholic diocese in
Meghnagar in Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh who said, 'Even the older
Protestant churches are unhappy with the evangelicals. It is said that they
are irresponsible. Consequences don't matter to them. They put the fire and
then they leave it to burn.'
Whether it is Kandhamal in Orissa or Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh or Dangs in
Gujarat, the only pan-Indian question is the evangelical activities of
'aggressive conversion campaign'.
If we argue that conversion is a right, then re-conversion too is a right.
In this melee of conversions and re-conversions violence and strife will
become the order of the day.
Let every religion enjoy complete religious freedom to preach, practice and
propagate. But as our apex court categorically stated, 'Propagate' does not
and should not include 'Conversion'. Let us put an end to the
institutionalised activity of conversions by church agents and instead allow
citizens freedom of personal choice without fear or favour.
Ram Madhav is a former spokesperson for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh