Youth group to ensure Christmas joy for Orissa Christians

(December 23, 2009) A Hindu-Catholic youth group from Orissa is intent on ensuring a happy and safe Christmas for Christians in the troubled Kandhamal area this year. Members of the handpicked group say they have new insights into the problems of their home state after a week-long conflict resolution course run by Salesians in Assam. Some 50,000 people had spent Christmas last year in relief camps set up by government and voluntary groups in various parts of Orissa. This was after Hindu extremists blamed Christians for the murder of a Hindu religious leader and led rampaging mobs that destroyed houses, churches and convents.This year things will be different, Hindu youth leader Himang Shu says. "During Christmas we will go to Christian houses and celebrate the feast together," he told UCA News. He and 23 other young Hindus and Christians from Kandhamal were picked by the Orissa government for the course at Don Bosco Youth Institute, Guwahati, in Assam. They belong to "Antaranga" (conscience), a youth forum formed after the violence erupted in their home region. The young people were selected from various ethnic groups in the district for the course that ended December 18. Ashwni Das, coordinator of Antaranga in Kandhamal district who accompanied the team, said the youths had witnessed the riots themselves. Some had even tried to help the victims. Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati addressed the group on December 16 and urged them to resolve ethnic problems in their state by rooting out the "deeper causes" that sparked the Kandhamal violence.