Catholic leader denounces India’s government over Orissa

The Catholic Archbishop at the forefront of the fight to end the persecution of Christians in Orissa is calling for continued foreign intervention to put pressure on the Indian government.

Rt Revd Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack Province, based in the Orissa capital, Bhubaneswar, believes the Indian government is complicit in the prolonged attacks on Christian dalits in Khandamal, by failing to act on information they’d received.

Not mincing his words, the undisputed spokesman for Orissa’s suffering Christians, who form just over two per cent of the 11million population, says that only foreign governments can help rein in the Hindu nationalist networks behind the violence.

With forced conversions still taking place as up to 50,000 Christians of the Pana caste attempt to return home to their villages, the Catholic hierarchy who have faced the brunt of the advocacy effort, is increasingly incensed.

Said Cheenath:  ‘When notorious criminals came to Mumbai airport, within three days government had stopped the whole thing.  The violence in Karnataka – they stopped that in five days.  Yet for Orissa, this the fifth month and it’s still going on.

‘If the government allows this catastrophe to take place with impunity, they are complicit.’

He says there was ample warning that local RSS mobs were stockpiling weapons throughout July, and preparing to block roads.

The local government administrator Krishna Kumar confirmed to us that he was appointed following warning last July of renewed activity by militants of the VHP – the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

He claimed he could not deploy troops until he had surveyed the extent of the crisis among the 2,500 villages on his watch.

Thirty-one companies of Central Reserve Police – around 3,000 men – were drafted in, two weeks after the massacre.

Yet they could not prevent the burning, looting, raping and destruction that has gone on ever since in an area that is 72% forest – one of the hilliest in India.

Now police are accused of forcing people to go home – despite ample evidence that they face violent Hinduization. [See Lapido Media Blog »]

Official figures put the number of non-returnees at15,000.  Eight thousand are still dispersed in seven of the original 17 displacement camps.  Many have abandoned the area altogether and are living in slums in Bhubaneshwar and even Delhi.

Documents in the possession of the police and seen by Lapido Media indicate a strategic, well-planned and long-term programme of terror by the ideological parent body of the Hindutva movement, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to rid Khandamal, then Orissa, of Christians.

A document in English circulating in the villages says: ‘God will help the persons who work to eradicate the EVILS’ [stet].

UK Assemblies of God missionary John Bridge who runs an orphanage in Jarsagudar says: ‘The RSS are killing police and top officers to create a corridor from Malkangiri which is now a no-go area, to Bhubaneswar, and Khandamal is in the way.’

Bridge, who has lived in the area for 30 years, rescued 750 Pana children from the forests after the early wave of attacks.  350 are still sheltering in his compound.

His driver’s brother died after his hands and legs were cut off.

Others were forced to demonstrate the authenticity of their reconversion by killing a Christian. Yet others were allegedly forced to stand on top of a destroyed church while they were photographed to implicate them.

Said Bridge: ‘They’re getting ready for another wave, hiding weapons, and watching for the next incident to exploit.’

The Collector also believes the elections, set for some time in April, will prove to be ‘challenging’.

Note:

Sangh Parivar – the term used to describe the family of organizations built around the RSS, and dedicated to hindutva [see below].

RSS – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent organization of the BJP, the major right-wing opposition party in India.

BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian People’s Party

VHP – Vishwa Hindu Parishad, World Hindu Council which has a signficant presence in UK and US and funds the India-for-Hindus or Hindutva movement.

The Bajrang Dal – the youth wing of the RSS which is said to be behind much of the present violence, and is known by its war cry ‘Jai Ram’ – victory to Ram.