Kandhamal: A team from the National Minority Commission has visited the riot-torn Kandhamal district of Orissa where night curfew still continues. Curfew has been lifted from the district headquarter town of Phulbani, but night curfew continues in three other towns.

This is the present situation after a week of violence that has broken out between the Hindus and Christians. The Congress has demanded an all-party meeting on Kandhmal communal violence.

While the rest of the world was celebrating Christmas, the tribal dominated Kandhmal district in Orissa was literally burning. It was a mysterious mix of communal and ethnic passions that pushed the district into complete lawlessness for over a week.

What and who was responsible for the eruption of violence that affected the entire population, across the religious and ethnic divide? With tension still continuing in the disturbed district, a dispassionate study of the circumstances is simply not possible. Here is a look at what lies at the root of the hatred that has set the Hindus against Christians and Panos against the tribals.

Politics of hate

On 24 December 2007, a structure set up to hold Christmas celebrations in Brahamanigaon was attacked and destroyed. The provocation was nothing more than the pandal encroaching the main road of the town. That was enough to start an ugly argument, which ended in the Hindus attacking the pandal and injuring two Christians.

After that, a rumour that prominent VHP leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati had been attacked by a Christian mob at Dasingibadi set off a wildfire of violence across Kandhamal. ''How can they attack a revered saint who has been working for the people for last 33 years? You think they want peace,'' asks GS Rath, Secretary, Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

At the same time, trouble was brewing also between the Kandha tribals and their old adversaries, the Dalit Panos. This mutual hatred had been simmering for the past 20 years with seven kandhs and nine Dalits killed in clashes in 1994.

The kandhs called a bandh on 25-26 December 2007 to protest the scheduled tribe/caste status acquired by the Dalits recently. But many suspect the Kandhs were set up by the Sangh Parivaar, to add to the confusion during the attack on the Christians. But the tribal leaders themselves say it was entirely a coincidence.

Lambodar Kanhar, Secretary, Kui Samaj, Kandhmal said, ''We had a meeting on 29 November 2007 and decided on the dates. It was just a coincidence and once we decided we went ahead with it.''

Clash of the castes

The Kandh tribals, predominantly pro-Hindu or Hindus, account for an overwhelming 51 per cent of the population. And nearly 70 per cent of the Dalit Panos who constitute 18 per cent of the population are Christians. That partly explains why the ethnic conflict here sometimes also assumes religious overtones.

If a Dalit becomes a Christian, he loses all privileges and concessions available to the Scheduled Castes but if a tribal becomes a Christian, he retains all the privileges available to the Scheduled Tribes. This was at the root of the conflicts - both religious and social.

Christian organisations have been pushing for scheduled caste benefits for the Dalits, irrespective of their religious status, but the Kandh tribals and the Sangh Parivaar are opposed to the idea.

What adds to the animosity is the Sangh Parivar's allegation that Christian missionaries have used allurements and incentives to convert the mostly poor and backward population. Even the BJP, a partner in the ruling alliance feels there should be stricter provisions against conversions.

Suresh Pujari, President, BJP, Orissa said, ''The core issue is forced conversion by way of allurements or coercion. We need to enact a law that would be so strict that nobody would ever dare to convert people by alluring them.''

But Christian leaders say the conversion issue has been drummed up just to hound them.
''If conversions are only a pretext for anti-minority violence, why are Muslims and Sikhs also targeted even though they don't convert people? It's a mindset that looks for pretexts to attack minorities,'' said John Dayal, Secretary General, All India Christian Council.

But the fact is, the VHP has been aggressively tackling the Christian conversions here for some time now. In the late 60s, VHP leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati set up an Ashram in Chakapad and they have been running an anti-Christian campaign in Kandhamal since then.

Their sole aim is to re-convert tribals and Dalit Christians. In May 2005, they organised the largest Hindu congregation in Orissa to celebrate the reconversion of nearly 350 tribal Christians. The Swami is very clear about what the real trouble in Orissa is. ''The fight is on because we want them (people) to become Hindus and they want them to join Christianity and convert the land into a Christian land,'' said Swami Laxmananand, VHP Leader and Hindu Missionary.

Adding to the smouldering situation are election campaigns every few years that feed on and fuel the religious hate campaigns. Christians say religious intolerance has seeped into the bureaucratic and judicial system as well and it is that which explains the administration's indifference to the anti-Christian violence in Kandhmal.

Christian leaders are also worried about the reaction of their own community to the religious intolerance. They see a rise in Christian militancy in some areas, especially in Bamunigaon where an armed Christian mob retaliated ferociously to the attack on 25 December 2007, turning on the local Hindus and attacking the police with firearms.

While the state government does not seem to recognise the new threat and blames the Maoists for the armed attack on Hindus in Bamunigaon, the rise of Christian militancy in Kandhmal is indeed a reality and could have serious consequences, both on the minority community and the socio-religious conflicts in future.

(Source: NDTV dated 07 January 2008)