Finding Christ deep inside Odisha villages

By Sujata Jena

Bhubaneswar, Dec 22, 2021: It was a rainy morning in September and I was going to Bhawanipatna of Kalahandi district of the eastern Indian state Odisha after some interesting meetings with parish priests and youth of Koraput and Jeypore parishes.

I got on a bus and sat in a row of seats behind the driver.

Koraput and Jeypore are about 500 km southwest of Bhubaneswar, the capital city where I live. Bhawanipatna is about 200 km from Koraput.

At the next stop, more people boarded. The bus got overcrowded gradually, with hardly any room for the passengers to keep their feet. Most of them were Adivasis (indigenous people). They spoke undertone of the ongoing police atrocities on villagers of Semiliguda block under Koraput district. I strained my ears to hear what they were whispering.

“Last night a group of strangers carried away a young neighbor of ours in a van, and as many as 28 villagers were arrested,” a woman said. Suddenly, the woman stopped speaking as her son vomited on the bus. She captured his son’s gut soup with her saree right away. I was disturbed and wanted to know the full story.

In less than an hour, there was another stop. Everyone got off the bus. I still had to travel around three hours to reach my destination. The bus conductor announced there will be a half an hour break for breakfast, attend to natural calls or buy vegetables sold alongside the road.

I approached the women to know more about the story. One Majhi said, “These days, at night a group of strangers enter our village and arrest the menfolk.”

The women explained, the villagers resist the mining company in their area because a continuation of mining activities would adversely affect around 42 villagers and their livelihood.

She said, “We will not leave Maliparbat hill for mining. We use the water from the stream originating from it. We grow garlic, ginger, green chili, onion, potato, eggplant, lady’s finger, paddy, wheat, and ‘mandia’ (ragi). If streams are destroyed because of mining, how can we grow all these foods? We live peacefully because of these waters, mountains, and land. Without these, we have no future.”

The Hindalco Industries Ltd (owned by Aditya Birla group) agents were going from village to village, threatening people not to oppose a public hearing organized by the district administration for granting environmental clearance on the mining lease granted to Hindalco Industries Ltd. They instill fear in the minds of the people.

This is not an isolated case of forceful land acquisition from the poor Adivasis and Dalits in the state.

In the same month, I visited Rourkela – a tribal populated diocese in the northwest of Odisha. Despite the persistent resistance and cry of the huge tribal population, the OCL (Orissa Cement Limited) company (a merger of Dalmia Bharat) wanted to expand its mining vehemently in their territory. The struggle continues. The district administration supports the company, not the poor.

In all the mining areas, the administrators are decided by the corporations. They lobby to get a district collector who would support their plan. It is not only in Odisha but all over India. Corporate is leading the country.

In reality, Odisha has a lion’s share of India’s mineral reserves. But its people remain in acute poverty because they do not get benefits from developmental activities.

Christmas is here again. The entire world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Many people make cribs, decorate trees, put lights on houses, and exchange gifts in honor of Jesus’ birthday.

In our communities, we bake hundreds of cakes to share with other religious communities of priests, religious, families, and friends. We hold Christmas gatherings with our candidates, hostellers, and support staff. We exchange gifts with our local Sacred Hearts brothers. Certainly, all these contribute to the joyfulness of the birth of Jesus.

I strongly believe Christmas is not just about feast, commemoration, or a celebration in the church. At the birth of Jesus, the angels were sent out to the fields to tell sheep and shepherds that the Messiah has been born in a manger.

The Good news was sent not to the rich of the area but the poor. God makes a point here. His birth is announced to the poor. Jesus practiced this throughout his life. He stands in solidarity with the poor, marginalized, the outcaste, the sick, and the suffering.

We need to look at so many hard realities of society around us. How can we look at them with eyes of faith? How can we respond to them with our Christian consciousness?

Besides, the issues of land grabbing in recent months and years, we are constantly challenged by issues such as exploitation of the vulnerable, violation of human rights, attacks on religious minorities, abuse of Dalits and tribals, exclusion of the poor, and migrants.

Recently, Christians are facing violence in parts of the country — their churches and institutions are attacked, literature is burned, false charges are framed, undemocratic anti-conversion laws are enacted to intimidate and harass them.

The Muslims and Christians are confronted for doing anything and everything that an ordinary citizen does. The latest attack is on the Missionaries of Charity (founded by Mother Teresa).

A study by Right to Food Campaign Odisha says, when the local authorities roll out jobs through Mahatma Gandhi National, Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) Dalits and tribals are the ones excluded from getting work. Even labor work is denied.

For the past year, I have been passionately visiting rural villages-parishes and institutions to recruit and motivate students preparing for administrative services through Excellent IAS Academy (EIA). It is set by Odisha Catholic Bishops’ Council (OCBC) with a vision to make Dalits, tribal, and youths from religious minority community leaders of India. Because civil administrative services involve decision-making, pro-people policymaking, and implementing policies for the welfare of the people.

Our congregation shares the vision of OCBC and works collaboratively to empower the youth from minority communities. Working towards this venture, I have met and counselled hundreds of rural youths. Unfortunately, despite the OCB’s generous effort to give the best and free coaching to the deserved candidates, and despite my sincere and aggressive campaign towards achieving this goal, most of them cannot come to the city for coaching. They cannot afford food and lodging. Instead, they try to find work to sustain their families.

India has the world’s largest youth population. Our government is busy with beautifying Hindu temples and crematorium sites, while the largest number of youths is languishing without a job.

During my exposure visits to rural India I have met many priests, religious and visited their convents. I was overwhelmed with their work among the poor-marginalized without caste, creed barriers. I can’t imagine the poor without the help of these Christian institutions, though often we hear priests and religious do nothing for the people. The government targets religious conversion and other such issues falsely.

Christmas becomes meaningful when we look at it with faith and trust in God and his ways and to be available to his call. It calls for a greater solidarity with the whole of humanity, especially with the poor and marginalized, vulnerable and persecuted ones.

In this Christmas I stand in solidarity with Adivasis and Dalits, who are victims of structural exploitation. I stand in solidarity with the Christians and Muslims who are unconstitutionally attacked and intimidated regularly.

I stand in solidarity with the millions of migrant labors who are deprived of human rights. I stand in solidarity with the millions of youth who are far from reaching their dreams. I stand in solidarity with the Missionary of Charity Sisters, who are falsely accused on conversion charges.

May this Christmas bring good news to all of them. May the birth of Christ enable us help build a more just world with love, compassion and recognition.