Violence against Christians continues in eastern India

New Delhi: Violence against Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district is continuing unabated. In a fresh incident on Tuesday, three villages in the G. Udaygiri Block were attacked in which at least two more persons, including a woman, are reported to have died. About 300 houses were also set on fire.

Figures compiled by John Dayal, a senior journalist and member of National Integration Council, Government of India, suggest that so far the violence that began on August 24 has left more than 57 people dead with 18,000 injured in Orissa alone, primarily in Kandhamal district.

More than 300 villages have been wiped off with nearly 4,300 houses burnt. In excess of 50,000 people have been rendered homeless. About 149 churches have also been damaged as also number of Christian schools and colleges.

There have been attacks on Christians in southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Sporadic incidents of violence have also been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. To read more, please click here.

'National shame'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to France termed the violence against the docile minority community as “national shame” but at the same time also attempted to downplay it, saying it was ‘sporadic’ in nature.

Right-wing groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad are still at large indulging in gruesome murders and acts of vandalism despite Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s warnings of stern action against the culprits.

According to reports coming in from the district, the activists of RSS-BD-VHP combine are subjecting Christians to forced conversions at a large scale.

Supporting this assertion, Seema Mustafa, editor with a fortnightly magazine Cohort, who was part of a fact-finding team, said they met many Christians living in relief camps who narrated stories about the excess being committed on those who refused to embrace the Hindu faith.

“People returning to their houses are being brutally beaten up and hacked to death, when they are refusing to become Hindus,” she said.

The Hindu newspaper has reported: “Not only have Christian families suffered the loss of their homes, possessions and places of worship in sustained attacks by marauding mobs of Hindutva supporters from August 24, they now cannot return to their villages unless they convert.”

Further it said that last two months have seen a steady depopulation of villages of their Christian population. People have fled fearing for their lives. Now, if families wish to return, conversion to Hinduism is the price they must pay.

Inadequate response

Response from political parties and civil society groups to the violence that has gripped parts of the country, particularly Orissa, has not been much encouraging, barring a few groups who have come out in the open to condemn the incidents.

Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, a network of more than 3,000 NGOs, sent an appeal letter to Prime Minister and President of the country, as also to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi to take immediate measures to stop this communal frenzy.

None of the political parties has taken any serious cognizance of the situation prevailing in the country that threatens to tear apart the secular fabric of the country.

It is therefore imperative that the state governments along with the government at the centre take steps to curb these divisive forces. All political parties, civil society groups, the media and the common citizens must unite in foiling the diabolical agenda of those who want to divide this country on communal lines.