Hindu radicals hoist saffron flag at Orissa church

(October 10, 2011) Hindu fundamentalists hoisted a saffron flag last week on the construction site of a destroyed Catholic Church in eastern India’s Orissa state. On the Hindu festival of Dussehra, Oct 6, more than 400 Hindu fanatics moved towards the Catholic Church in Bakingia village in Kandhamal district, where the local Catholic community was planning to rebuild their church, razed to the ground by fundamentalists during the anti-Christian atrocities in 2008. Faithful in one of the largest Christian settlements in the district were rebuilding the church after receiving compensation from the government, but the fanatics led by Bhaskar Pradhan prevented them, claiming the land belonged to their forefathers. Mediation effort by the local administration failed to resolve the issue between the two parties. Fr Santosh Digal, head of media and communications in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese said that authorities had verbally assured there would be incident-free construction of the church and peaceful prayer meetings in the villages, but there was no law and order in place to assure the Christian communities that their life and livelihoods were secure.