Violence-torn Kandhamal braces for divisive elections

As Kandhamal district in the eastern state of Orissa recovers from anti-Christian insurgency, two Hindu nationalist poll contenders for the forthcoming elections were today both in gaol in connection with the violence.

Ashok Sahu, a former senior police official, was arrested today (Tuesday 14 April) and refused bail in connected with an alleged hate speech against Christians, and Manoj Pradhan has been in gaol for four months.

Charged in over ten cases of alleged murder and arson during the August-September 2008 violence, Pradhan is a candidate for the G. Udayagiri assembly seat in Kandhamal.

Sahu, a retired police official and candidate for the Kandhamal parliamentary constituency, has been charged with falsely accusing Christians on April 5 at a public meeting in the district’s Raikia town, of conversions and of killing a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

The officer in charge of elections in the district headquarters, P.K. Sahu, told Lapido Media that twelve special squads were tasked with observing the political parties.

The district administration is also closely monitoring the parties’ adherence to the Election Commission’s model code of conduct, which restricts any speech or activity that can incite religious tensions, he said.

Last year’s violence began following the killing of Saraswati on August 23, 2008.

A Maoist group took responsibility for the murder, but BJP supporters alleged that Christians were behind the assassination.

The ensuing violence that lasted for over a month killed more than 127 people and destroyed 315 villages, 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions, besides rendering more than 50,000 homeless.

Candidates and Issues

On March 23, Sahu told Press Trust of India that Christian conversion would be his main poll plank, adding that Kandhamal was a ‘model area’ for Hindu nationalism.

The BJP was until recently part of the ruling coalition partnership the regional Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party.

After breaking up its 11-year-old alliance with the BJP, the ruling BJD promised to wash away the ‘stains’ of the Kandhamal violence in its 40-page poll manifesto, released on March 27, by ensuring complete security to all communities to perform religious programmes.

A legislator from neighbouring Nayagarh district, Rudramadhav Ray, is the BJD’s candidate for the parliamentary constituency.

Sujit Padhi, the candidate of the opposition Congress party, on the other hand, is highlighting the failure of both the BJP and the BJD in controlling the violence.

Also in the fray is a 42-year-old Christian social worker, Deenabandhu Naik, spokesman of the inter-denominational Jan Kalyan Samaj (Society for Welfare of Christians).

‘Peace and reconciliation, the need of Kandhamal at this juncture, is my agenda. It is the people of the land who are asking me to contest this election on their behalf,’ said Naik, an independent candidate.

‘I have the support of Christians from all the denominations, including the Catholic, the Baptist, and the Pentecostal,’ said Naik.

Although Naik was secretary of the Rajdhani College in Bhubaneswar,’ said Naik, who was a student political activist.

Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, thinks that Naik’s chances of winning are slim.  His candidature could also prove to be ‘counter-productive’.

‘It risks giving the impression that his community is so free as to be thinking of contesting when a majority are in fact in trouble, harassed, and disenfranchised’ Dayal told Lapido Media.

Demography

The Kandhamal parliamentary constituency includes the tribal dominated regions of Kandhamal and parts of the neighbouring district of Boudh Ganjam and Nayagarh.

Of the 650,000 people in Kandhamal district, nearly 52 percent are from the Kui tribe (aboriginal).  Christians, mostly from the Pana Dalit (formerly ‘untouchables’) community, make up around 16 percent of the population.

The relations between the Kui and Pana communities have been tense for the last few years.

The Pana Christians have been demanding that they be recognised as a tribal community on the premise that they also speak the Kui language and share a similar culture.

India’s Constitution provides for reservations in jobs for Dalit and tribal communities, however once a Dalit person converts to Christianity or Islam, they lose privileges such as education and job reservation – unlike the tribal people who retain the reservation rights despite their conversion to these religions.

Besides, leaders of the Kui community allege that Dalit Christians have taken away land reserved only for tribals by making fake certificates.

Kandhamal’s most influential tribal outfit, Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti, is spearheading the agitation against the Pana Christians, claiming that they are enjoying tribal benefits by procuring fake certificates.

Kui people are believed to be close to the BJP, although the BJD is also trying to woo them.

Displaced Voters

There are still 3,187 homeless Christians in the relief camps set up by the state government, according to information given to Lapido Media by the district administration, and it is feared that many might not be able to exercise their franchise.

Local Christians had sought postponement of elections amid apprehensions of fresh communal flare ups, but their demand was not met.

The nodal officer for the elections, Dilip Rai, however, said that the summer elections would not be any different from the previous ones due to the displaced people.

The district administration has requested the Election Commission to issue duplicate voter identity cards to 975 people in Baliguda area and 1,164 in G. Udayagiri who had lost their belongings in the violence, Rai told Lapido.

‘Those who had lost their houses have already been shifted back to their villages in temporary shelters, and security will be provided to them so that they can cast their votes without any fear,’ he said.

To be held in two phases – on April 16 and 23 - the elections will be for 21 parliamentary seats and 147 state assembly seats, and the votes will be counted on May 16.