Church rejects Hindu group’s allegations in Orissa

(February 17, 2010) Church people and others in Orissa have rejected as trite and baseless a Hindu radical group’s allegations that the Church perpetrated violence in Orissa. Ashok Singhal, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said on February 15^th in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, that his group had no hand in the sectarian violence in Orissa. Singhal was reacting to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s disclosure in the state assembly earlier in the day that investigations showed the VHP and other Hindu radical groups were involved in the violence. He also criticized Patnaik for allowing a European Union delegation to visit Orissa early February. He said Patnaik compromised with the country’s security by allowing the delegation to hold a closed-door meeting with Church leaders. He alleged “foreign forces” indulged in religious conversion in Orissa by luring illiterate tribal people. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, who heads the Catholic Church in Orissa, dismissed Singhal’s outburst as Hindu radicals’ “customary” attempts to rake up a controversy over conversion and the Church’s foreign funds and foreign links. He said the VHP leader “reacted out of proportion” because he mistook the European Union as a Christian organization. Dhirendra Panda, a social activist, dismissed Singhal’s allegations against Christians as “irrational and illogical.” Damodar Rout, state Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation, told media people to ignore the VHP since its only interest is to create disturbances in Orissa.