Fear still grips Orissa nearly two months after Hindu groups attacked Christians, reports BIBHUTI PATI
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| Jaganu and his wife at their home Photo: Bibhuti Pati |
The turmeric leaves have yellowed and in days shall turn brown. Mustard fields are ready to yield. Ginger is being reaped. In the next seven days Jaganu Digul will reap his turmeric and pay back the moneylender’s loan and celebrate Christmas with his family.
On December 24, Jaganu Digul took his ginger yield to the Daringbadi ‘haat’ (village weekly market), and from there to Bamunigaon haat to sell the remaining ginger. It was around 11am when a group of aggressive youth stormed in, brandishing weapons. They went about closing the haat. They belonged to the Kui community, and were backed by party workers of the Bajrang Dal, RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Local Christians gathered and supported the shopkeepers who were unwilling to close the haat. Heated exchanges soon took the shape of skirmishes. Soon arson and looting of shops followed. “Loot the Hindus,” someone screamed. Jagnu’s ginger got crushed in the stampede. Another group of men, shouting “Jay Bajrangbali”, set fire to a garage named “Jaga Balia”. Jaganu heard that the chapel at Bamunigan was being vandalised. He hid himself under a culvert near the police out post. Soon, the authorities clamped down, and a curfew was declared.
“I am a Christian and was looted by a Christian mob, and the Jaga Balia garage belongs to a Hindu, and was burned down by Hindus,” says Jaganu, recollecting his Christmas eve, spent in fear and hunger under the culvert. He somehow managed to get home by taking a jungle path. On seeing him, his wife broke down and said that a mob had forcibly cut the mustard crop from their field and set fire to their turmeric crop. Jaganu fainted, and on regaining consciousness, all he could do was to think of how he would repay the moneylender.
Jagnu is just one among the hundreds in places like Mansaguda, Butukia, Sindiro Gaon, Barakhama, Musukuli, Kadingia, Godapur, Khadadar and Prayati panka who suffered during the communal riots in Orissa’s Kandhamal district last December. Many are still waiting to return to their work and livelihood, and the peace that seems to them lost forever. They don’t understand the complexities of religion and caste, let alone politics.
More than a 100 churches have been destroyed in the violence and several temples vandalised. Around 600 homes and shops were set fire, including 300 houses of the Christian street of Barkhama and some Hindu areas like Aadua Sahi of Bamunigaon that were completely destroyed. More than two thousand people were affected directly, and another five thousand or more indirectly. Some relief has reached the affected, and the administration has provided tents for shelter. Yet, despite all the support given by the district administration, many are yet to recover from the trauma of the event that destroyed their life savings and took away their loved ones. More than a hundred criminal cases have been registered in Kandhamal district, and so far the police have arrested172 people. Some 600 people are still missing, and are believed to be hiding in neighboring districts.
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| Nearly two months after the attacks, some of those who fled return to their villages Photo: Bibhuti Pati |
Manish Burma, the District Collector says, “ It will take some time to normalise the situation”. According to a local social activist, “The terror is yet to recede. In Bamunigan, Daringibadi and Godapur areas the hardcore Hindus as well as Christians are holding secret meetings. The Christians of Barakhama and the Hindus of Aadua Sahi is their target this time. The government and the local administration have done their lot. Some people are politicising the matter. This is delaying in the restoration of peace and confidence among the people. Now Christian tribals are separated from their original Kui community. Thousands of school children are without books and lanteens. Their education is completely hampered.”
According to District Christian Welfare Society Secy. Manas, in Kutikia, Basakhama, Sudra, Budukia, Ribingia and Sinkiguda, Christians are being forced to convert to Hinduism by the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. But a local police officer dismissed this as baseless, “I have personally been to Dalki, Sudra, Katangi villages on receiving complaints. On asking them, they denied such things. We have not received any reports. These are rumours.”
In the Bamunigaon firing incident Tileswar Digul of Katamaha and Kundan Mantri of Alanjari village lost their lives. But their families are refusing to identify and receive their bodies in apprehension of police harassment. Day by day, Tileswar’s wife Sunita is crumbling into misery. When asked why they didn’t identify the bodies, a family member said, “ This is a Naxal area. If we identify them, then the police will take action against us as per Naxal laws.”
Interestingly, the victims of the riots across Bamunigan to Barakhama say, “We haven’t seen any Hindu of our village burning our churches or attacking us, nor did any of the Christians here attack any Hindus.” One of them, Tajuri, asked, “What was the religion of the rioters? Who were they and where from did they come? We have been celebrating Dussehra, Christmas and Diwali for years together. I go to temple because my forefathers have been going there, in the same way Elia here is going to church. What is wrong in it? So far, no radical Hindu or Christian has come with an answer to this innocent question of the people of Kandhamal.
| Tajuri’s Story Barakhama’s Tajuri, 72, is a Hindu. Alio, 51, is a Christian. Though not related by blood they are no less closer to each other than a mother and son. It was Tajuri who brought up Alio since he was orphaned in childhood. They live in one house, with a common gate and kitchen stove.Even after he got married, Alio looked after Tajuri since she is a widow. He also helped Tajuri’s daughter Minakhi to be married away, in complete Hindu rites. On December 25, as Alio was getting Tajuri her medicines before setting out for the church, he heard loud slogans outside. Shouting “Jai Sri Ram, Bom Bom Bhole, Jai Hanuman”, a mob entered Alio’s house and set it ablaze. They beat up Alio and his Ukia severely. Half-blind Tajuri rushed out, asking them why they were beating her son. The mob turned on her, and showering her with abuse, said, ‘You are a Hindu but you call a Christian your son?’ And then they beat her up. One of them said, “Set fire to her house!” the house was burnt down within minutes. Tajuri and Alio still break down when they recall the terror that visited them that day. |
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