By Purushottam Nayak
Cuttack, Oct 24, 2022: Christians in Odisha say they contribute generously to the celebration of festival of their Hindu brethren as a gesture to foster solidarity and brotherhood.
“I gladly gave 2,000 rupees, the amount decided by the Hindu Diwali committee for a Christian family,” said Lazarus Bage, a Catholic catechist, hailing from Sundargargh, now settled in Cuttack for the past 46 years.
He told Matters India on October 23, the eve of Diwali festival, that he saw an opportunity to cooperate and collaborate with the majority Hindus in their major festival of Diwali in the city of Cuttack.
The Samal Street Bidyadharpur Cuttack city committee had decided to collect 300 rupees from local inhabitants, 500 rupees from those staying in rented houses and 2,000 from outsiders settled in Cuttack for the Diwali celebrations.
Bage is among some 50 Catholic families, all settlers, under St. Antony of Padua Parish, Bidyadharpur, Nayabajar, Cuttack. Another parish in the city, Our Lady of Most Holy Rosary Cathedral Parish, has 300 Catholic families, most of them settlers. The amount for each family varies from street to street, town to town and city to city.
A Christian family living in Cuttack after the 2006 Kandhamal communal violence also donated to the Diwali committee.
“Although the perpetrators of the 2008 anti-Christian violence were Hindus, I gave cheerfully the contribution to the Puja committee because not all Hindus are enemies or problematic. There are good Hindu brethren with a secular mind and heart,” said Ranjit Pradhan, a Kandhamal survivor eking a living in Cuttack as a daily wager.
“I had undergone persecution, pain, agony and threat to life. But my Lord Jesus has taught me to love our enemies, forgive our haters without holding a grudge,” Pradhan told Matters India.
Father Gulshan Ekka of Rourkela diocese says Christians willingly donate to Hindu festivals.
“When we pass on the road we contribute to the Hindu volunteers collecting donations at different stations of the road,” the priest told Matters India.
According to Father Jadu Marandi, the former vicar general of Balasore diocese, the Hindu brethren collect some amount from people on the road. Usually the electricity department workers come to churches and offices to collect donations.
Sometimes Hindus collect funds for their temples.
Abhisek Pandey, a young Christian from Sarada village under Berhampur diocese, says they gladly donate according to their financial capacity so that they could foster social unity, harmony and integrity. “God always blesses us abundantly.”
Diwali, he told Matters India, brings total unity in diversity. “Diwali is the festival which shows victory of truth, justice, ethical, politeness, unity, solidarity, peace and harmony over lies, injustice, unethical, arrogance, disagreement and disunity, respectively.”
Pandey has another reason to celebrate Diwali. “It is Lord Jesus Christ who is the real light of the world and he invites everyone to be the light.”
Odisha has some 1.2 million Christians belonging to various denominations.