Bhubaneswar: A Church leader in Odisha says a Hindu outfit’s imposition of a shut down on Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Christmas day was done with malicious intention.
“We condemn it and wish the Odisha state administration would take enough measures so that the perpetrators would not dare to create any ill feeling among different communities,” said Father Ajaya Kumar Singh, director of Odisha Forum for Social Action (OROSA) and a human rights activist, who hails from Kandhamal.
The 12-hour bandh (shut down) call was given by the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samity (KSSS, committee for harmonious connection of Kui society). Kui is a tribe in Kandhamal.
Fr Singh alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national volunteers corps), the umbrella organization of Hindu radical groups, and its political wing, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people’s party) have used to sacred feasts such as Christmas to divide people on religious lines and win votes for the past eight years.
They succeeded to win two out of three assembly seats in Kandhamal in the 2009 elections, he noted.
According to him, the general strike call was given by some local tribal leaders who have joined the BJP. However, they cannot claim to represent the concerns of tribals, the activist priest added.
The shut down prevented Christians from attending Christmas celebration as there was no public transportation to go churches. The bandh organizers had also blocked roads to prevent people from going to churches. In Barkhama village, they felled trees to block roads and create fear and insecurity.
“The game plan of communal forces aided by the BJP leadership further destroys the social fabric in Kandhamal,” Father Singh bemoaned.
More than hundred Christians and others from Barakhama village, which was one of the villages that witnessed anti-Christian violence in 2007 and 2008, have written a memorandum to the Sub-Collector of Balliguda on December 29.
Its copy was forwarded to the district collector, state chief minister and Director General of Police (Odisha), Odisha Human Rights Commission, Chief Secretary of Odisha Secretariat and other top government officials, said Kartik Nayak, a villager from Barakhama.
The bandh took place as the Kandhamal district administration and police were trying to ensure peace and harmony during Christmas in this communally volatile-region.
KSSS president Lambodar Kanhar alleged that the government and the administration had not fulfilled their long-standing demands such as action against those who have used fake caste certificates to get appointments and other government benefits. The outfit also planned to hold memorial meetings in different parts of the district to observe death anniversary of a tribal killed during riots at Barkhama near Baliguda on December 25, 2007.
The Hindu newspaper reported that the KSSS has called Christmas bandh for the past few years to show its strength and presence in the Kandhamal district. However, it had always withdrawn the bandh call at the last moment after persuasion by the district administration and police.
Meanwhile the administration undertook several programs to ensure peace and harmony during Christmas celebrations. On December 15, a district level peace committee meeting was held in district headquarter, Phulbani. Similar peace committee meetings were held at block and panchayat levels.
The district police also stepped up security by deploying 25 platoons of Odisha police along with Special Operation Group and Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Kandhamal.