2015-09-03 13:34:00

India’s 2008 Kandhamal riot victims demand justice


Over 5,000  Christian Dalits and Adivasis of Eastern India joined in a protest organized by  Kandhamal  Nyaya Shanti O Sadbhabana Samaj in Raikia on September 2.  The participants demanded justice and a return to peace and harmony seven years after Hindu fundamentalists massacred Christians in 2008.  

They have sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention for justice saying the state has failed to punish the guilty and compensate for losses seven years after the deadly violence.

Shouting slogans like ‘We Want Peace, Not Violence’, ‘Stop Atrocities on Minorities and Women’, ‘Do Not Divide People in the name of Religion and Caste, and ‘We Demand Appropriate Compensation’, protesters walked for about two kilometres.

The event saw the participation of several political leaders such former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar in an Indian Congress-led government, Brinda Karat, a Member of the Rajya Sabha for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Kavita Krishnan, a former MP for the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) were present. 

An official memorandum was sent to the president's office Aug. 31, when thousands demonstrated to mark the anniversary of the riot in Odisha state's Kandhamal district. Some 5,000 people marched through the district's main Raikia town demanding justice for victims.

Speaking at the event, Mr Aiyar insisted on not forgetting what happened. People of different religion and caste lived here he said and then suddenly, many were killed, displaced; their homes and churches destroyed, women raped and molested. Aiyar described what he saw in those days of violence. "As a minister of the central government, I was visiting this beautiful land before the violence. Now that I am back here, I feel deep pain.”

Even now many survivors cannot return home Officials from India’s Communist parties slammed the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for punishing the innocent instead of bringing to justice the guilty.

The survivors’ association wrote a letter to Indian President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, citing figures for the attacks. The 2008 pogroms forced 56,000 people to flee their homes, leaving them exposed to looting and fire. Some 6,500 houses were affected this way in some 600 villages.

According to data collected by the Church and social activists, some 350 churches as well as 35 convents, schools, hostels and welfare facilities were destroyed. At least 91 people, including the disabled, elderly, children, both women and men, died.

The association estimates that at least 10,000 children were forced to quit schools. Many children also ended up in the hands of people traffickers, sold as sex slaves or hired out as domestic workers at the mercy of abusive employers, unable to take the latter to justice because they had to earn a living for their families.

The death of Laxamananda Saraswati, a leader of the Hindu ultra-nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), who was killed on 23 August 2008 by a Maoist group, sparked the violence in Odisha (Orissa). Even though the insurgents claimed responsibility for the assassination, Hindu radicals blamed Christians. The guru had criticised lay Christians and clergy alike for helping tribals and dalits and had accused them of proselytising among these groups.

Meanwhile, the Orissa Bishops' Regional Council has decided to observe “Kandhamal Martyrs Day" every year to remember those killed in the riots seven years ago. They were killed because of their faith and the observation will begin next year, John Barwa the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar said. And added that the lives of those who were killed will inspire the Christian community at large.  (UCAN, AsiaNews)








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