Indian Prime Minister condemns Orissa’s anti-Christian violence as “national shame”;
Catholic schools close in protest
(Aug. 29, 2008) A delegation of Catholic and Protestant leaders met Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and asked him to send federal forces to help end
the violence against Christians in Orissa and assist victims there. During the meeting
Aug. 28 in New Delhi, Singh called the anti-Christian violence in Orissa a "national
shame" and announced the government will offer compensation to the families of those
killed. By Aug. 28, at least 14 people had died in the Hindu attacks against Christians.
The prime minister also promised to make available federal funds to assist the thousands
of Christians, most of them women and children, who have fled the violence and become
refugees in the forest. Anti-Christian violence flare up in Orissa after the murder,
last Saturday, of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his close
associates. Police have said Maoist rebels were behind the killing, but Hindu fanatic
groups have accused Christians.. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar
whose archdiocese is in Orissa and includes Khandamal district, the epicentre of the
anti-Christian fury, was among the seven church leaders who met with the prime minister.
Speaking to Vatican Radio on the phone from New Delhi after meeting the prime minister,
Archbishop Cheenath said the delegation asked Singh to speak to Orissa Chief Minister,
Naveen Patnaik “to stop the killings, attacks, arson and looting.’ They also asked
for an independent enquiry by the national Central Bureau of Investigation into the
cause of the violence as well as the murder of Swami Saraswati. Archbishop Cheenath
said that some 50 to 60 thousand Christians who have taken shelter in the forests
were in a ‘terrible mess’ with no food, relief or rehabilitation. He said local police
administration was of ‘no use’ to provide protection to the people or their property.
Asked whether attacks were still continuing on Thursday, he said as far as he knew,
towns and cities were calm because of the strong presence of anti-riot force, but
in villages and rural areas violence was continuing. Archbishop Cheenath however
said, majority of Hindus, not their leaders, have silently expressed their sympathies
for Christians, but Hindu fanatic groups continue to blame Christians for the murder
of Swami Saraswati. Meanwhile, thousands of Catholic schools across India remained
shut on Friday in protest against continuing anti-Christian violence and in solidarity
with those suffering in Orissa. Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the president of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the highest body of the Catholic Church
in India, had called on all Catholic schools and educational institutions to remain
closed on Friday. The country’s 160 Catholic dioceses and 239 religious congregations
together run some 25,000 educational institutions serving more than 10 million students.
Many of these institutions serve the poor in rural areas where government educational
institutions have a very poor record. Cardinal Vithayathil, who is Archbishop of
Ernakulam-Ankamaly, had also exhorted the Catholic community in India to observe a
day of prayer and fasting on Sunday, September 7, for the promotion of communal harmony
and peace in the country. The Evangelical Fellowship of India and the National
Council of Churches in India had also joined CBCI in calling their educational institutions
to remain shut on Friday, saying they were do so “in deep sorrow and anguish.2 “We
hope parents become aware of the implications of the incidents in Orissa," said a
letter by the Church groups. Christian organisations had also planned to hold peaceful
protest rallies in various cities on Friday, including a sit-in by the All India Christian
Council (AICC) outside the Orissa House. The violence has been condemned by
Pope Benedict XVI who called for communities to try to restore "peaceful coexistence.”
"I firmly condemn any attack on human life," Pope Benedict told a crowd of pilgrims
at his weekly general audience in Rome. "I express spiritual closeness and solidarity
to the brothers and sisters in faith who are being so harshly tested." He labelled
the death of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati as "deplorable". The latest outrage in
Orissa against Christians is the second major instance of the kind in the same areas
in the past nine months. Anti-Christian violence erupted in Kandhamal district and
spread during last Christmas season, when Hindu mobs attacked and destroyed Christian
churches and institutions and burned about 400 houses. In early July, mobs of Hindu
radicals cut trees to block roads and again attacked Christian institutions. The damage
then was limited to a few areas in Kandhamal.