Human rights groups calls for end to communal terror in Odisha. Citizen groups call on the President.

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Citizen's Delegation meets President Pratibha Patil; Demands that Indian Government use Article 355 to force Orissa administration to protect Christians

Violence continues even now, President is told by delegation led by Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Maulana Mahmood Madani, MP, and Orissa Archbishop Cheenath.

300 villages burnt, 4,014 houses destroyed, 50,000 Christians hiding in Forests in a week

A Citizens Delegation met President Pratibha Patil on Monday morning calling upon her to enforce Article 355 of the Constitution of India on Orissa so that the Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik administration takes adequate measures to protect Christians in the state from Hindutva violence.

The best legal opinion available to the delegation held that while Article 356 calls for imposition of President's rule when New Delhi takes over reins of power, Article 355 reminds both New Delhi and state governments of their duties to protect States against internal disturbance and should be brought into force now.

The delegation reminded the President that the violence that has continued against Christians in Orissa from 23rd August till today justifies the use of this Article. The violence far exceeds that of Christians in 2007, the delegation told the President, reminding her that she had a big role to play at this juncture.

In fact, violence has spilled out of Orissa into neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. In Orissa, it is not confined to Kandhamal but has affected other districts. In Kandhamal, fifty thousand people are hiding in forests or are in a few refugee camps, hiding from murderous gangs seeking to kill them or convert them to Hinduism, Over 4,000 houses have been completely destroyed apart from now close to a hundred small and big churches which have been torched.

The Citizen's delegation, the first such to meet the President, was led by film maker Mahesh Bhatt and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani, MP, National Integration Council member Dr John Dayal, Orissa Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Delhi Archbishop Vincent Concessao, Maharashtra Government State Minorities Commission vice chairman Dr Abraham Mathai, Jamiat leader Mohd Faruqi, Al India Christian Council regional secretary Rev Madhu Chandra, Delhi Catholic Archdiocese Federation President Adv Jenis Francis and Mumbai's Catholic Social Forum secretary general Joseph Dias were the other members.

The President gave the delegation a patient hearing and said she would have their demand for Article 355 examined. She said the government had briefed her on steps, which had already been taken. Mr. Bhatt told the President that the State government was in a coma; its police totally complicit in the violence and the Sangh Parivar was running havoc. Maulana Madani said it was a matter of security of India's minorities. It was India's concern for its minorities that had brought it respect internationally, and it was the object of deep concern globally. Archbishop Cheenath, Dr John Dayal and Dr Mathai briefed the President in detail about the Sangh violence in the state which has continued after the murder of the VHP vice President Lakshmanananda Saraswati.

Following are excerpts from the Memorandum Citizen's Memorandum to the President of India September 1, 2008
Shrimati Pratibha Patil
The President of India
Your Excellency,
You are aware of the still continuing carnage against the Christian community, mostly Dalits and Tribals, in the Kandhamal district of Orissa and in several other districts including the state capital of Bhubaneswar since 23rd August 2003 following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, reportedly by Maoist groups who have been operating in the state for some time. The violence has now spread to some other states, especially Madhya Pradesh.

Nine months after attacks in Kandhamal District on Christians of Dalit, Hill peoples and Tribal ethnicity celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are deeply saddened by a repeat of the violence in the month of India's Independence. The Christmas 2007 attacks claimed the lives of at least four Christians, and we verified the destruction of at least 105 churches and 730 Christian homes. The current spate of violence will exceed these totals as it continues to spread into other districts. Our estimate from Ground Zero is of close to two dozen people dead, one a Hindu girl burnt to death working for a Christian orphanage, a Nun has been gang raped, religious men and women personnel humiliated, beaten, tortured, some close to death, while policemen have looked on, or have been absent.

We appeal for the restoration of law and order. But the root cause must also be addressed. We, the secular civil society community, perceive that the great nation of India is at a tipping point. The groups, which favour a "Hindu Rashtra", have made Orissa their laboratory, as they earlier did Gujarat. The so-called saffronisation of the state has been the subject of well-documented academic and socio-political studies.

We entreat you, as President of the Republic, to enforce the rule of law upon Sangh Parivar organisations which blatantly flaunt their divisive agenda. Specifically, we call upon you to bring the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and Bajrang Dal under the rule of law. As Orissa authorities have repeatedly said there was ample circumstantial evidence of Maoist involvement in the killing of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others on August 23rd. Additionally, someone who identified himself as Azad, a leader of Maoist outfit, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army claim responsibility for the killing as Times of India carries the news on August 30 referring to an interview with a leading Oriya daily on August 29.

Yet Praveen Togadia, VHP general secretary, told an international journalist on August 27, "It is clear that the church killed the Swami." Gouri Prasad Rath, Orissa state VHP secretary, said, "This attack is the handiwork of the Christians." Subhash Chavan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, said, "The police are trying to hide the truth by blaming the Maoists." An unnamed RSS spokesperson said, "This is an attack by the agents of Christian missionaries, whose attempts at forcible conversions the Swamiji countered." RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav told CNN IBN on Tuesday night that Christians were behind the murders. Perhaps based on a media report, Madhav The final word lay with RSS supreme Kupahalli Sudershan who in a Press Statement faxed to the Media called the late VHP vice President a martyr for "stopping Christians from carrying on conversions."

These types of irresponsible statements must be met with the full force of the law. They are all culpable for penal action under IPC 295A for the crime of creating enmity between communities and religions. This would benefit not only Orissa, but the nation. We sincerely wish Swami Saraswati was not murdered and he still might be alive if the state government had followed the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities. The NCM urged the authorities to examine the speeches of Swami Lakshmanananda to determine whether they amount to incitement to violence.8 9 We are confident that, if this had been done, the swami would have been jailed and protected from coming to any harm.

Your Excellency, the violence in Orissa continues without adequate police forces to stop mobs which break curfew and harm innocent civilians, chasing our fellow countrymen and women like animals in the forests where they have taken refuge since August 24. Today the irresponsible leaders of hardliner Hindu nationalist groups are damaging our great democracy and secularism of the nation. We request you to order the Union Government and the State Administration to take legal action against the irresponsible organisations which called the bundh on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 and have passively watched their members wreak havoc. They must, of course, fully investigate the murder of the VHP vice President. This is to request you to use your powers as President of India, and the tremendous force of your good offices, to impress on the Central Government to rush adequate Union forces, including contingents of the Armed Forces if required, to restore law and order and governance in the Kandhamal region.

The consequences of any further delay, we the secular civil society fear, may be catastrophic for the small Christian community in the State in particular, for peace in Orissa in general, and for the fair name of India as a secular country.

INSAF has also written a letter saying that we are deeply pained and shocked at the happenings in Odisha since 23rd August evening. The inhuman and mysterious killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was used by the Sangha Parivar as a pretext to unleash the dance of terror throughout the State, particularly in Kandhamal and neighboring districts. Attacks on innocent adivasis, dalits, women, children belonging to minority community were planned, led and carried out by the Sangha Parivar (RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, ABVP, BJP) without any limit. The violence is continuing since 23rd August till now, Begin from raping nuns, lynching innocent women-men, disable persons and others to burning houses, shops, schools, orphan homes, churches has been going as if, there is no end to it. As of today more than 20 persons have been killed for no fault of theirs. Thousands and thousands of people, who are no way connected to the killing of Saraswati, including pregnant women, toddlers and old ones have left their homes and are languishing inside the forests amidst rains without food, water, cloths till now. The Orissa Government led by BJP and BJD has miserably failed to protect lives, property and dignity of the citizens. It looks as if the entire Administration and Police have become deaf and dumb. There are enough ground to believe that there was a deliberate move by a section within the government that crippled the administration and police – leading the complete breakdown of governance systems. To mention few points:

Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was provided with special security by the Home Department. Also he had filed an FIR before 48 hours of the attack on him and sought adequate security arrangements viewing the letter from an unknown person threatening to his life. The Administration did not take any security measures to save the life of the Swami and others.

The Administration have allowed the funeral procession from Jalespata to Chakapada (about 130 kms) passing through communally sensitive places like Tumudibandh, Baliguda, Nuagan, other places with thousands of already agitated and armed mob and the leaders of BJP, RSS, VHP without taking adequate security arrangement. This mob led by Mr. Pravin Togadia and three Ministers of the present Orissa Government - Ms. Ministers of Orissa government caused severe violence against minority in almost all the places it passed through.

On the 23rd August night the RSS,VHP and BJP had announced that there would be statewide bandh on 25th August. The government, which already experienced the wide spread violence during Kandhamal bandh on Dec 25th 2007, was expected to take all the measures to prevent communal violence during the bandh such deployment of adequate police force, preventive arrest BJP,VHP,RSS leaders and others etc. But they failed severely to take up necessary security arrangement. The hooligans under the direct command of BJP and RSS leaders could burnt down shops, houses of Christians, ransacked and looted several Churches, burnt down some NGO offices, lynched a girl student of a Kanyashram and a priest at Baragarh, killed 3 persons in Kandhamal in the presence of Police forces. The Police failed to take steps to stop the nuisance. Was there no adequate number of Police forces? Why did not the government ask/mobilize adequate number of police forces? Are not these intentional?

Immediately after the murder of the Ashramites, the Sangha Parivar announced the bandh call for 25th. The just before a day of Bandh the government ordered the suspension of the Kandhamal Police Superintendent Mr. Nikhil Kumar Kanodia along with the local Police Inspector without posting any substitute to him and too knowing well what would happen on the next day. The same SP and his Team prevented a communal riot on July 22, 2008 following the tension centring round the RSS's opposition to beef eating by scheduled castes and tribes of Malipada village and RSS/VHP leaders had been demanding his transfer.

Viewing his roles during Gujarat riot 2002, Mr.Pravin Togadia, a national level VHP leader, who had been disallowed by different state governments to enter into their respective states as a preventive measure to check communal riots, was allowed by the Orissa Government to land on 25th during a very sensitive period and escorted to travel a 300 km long distance on road from Bhubaneswar to Chakapada, while several passengers were suffering a lot being struck in the airport because of the bandh. He appealed to the mob to take revenge of the killing of Swamiji and finish all the houses of Christians in the district within fifteen days. What made the government to allow such a person to visit the communally sensitive areas? Was the Govt. confident enough to tackle the situation even if such people lead the procession of already agitated mob?

Under the leadership of Mr.Pravin Togadia and in the presence of BJP Ministers and leaders accompanying the funeral procession, the attacks on minority community people was going on. Has the administration filed any FIR against such leaders and the rioters?

While Mr.Togadia was escorted to enter into the remote areas of Kandhamal district, the Minister of State, Home Department, Government of India was denied the entry by the Orissa Government for security reasons. If the Union Home Minister can not be provided with security - this is enough to understand what kind of security must have been provided to the poor villagers. And such people are being abused, raped, killed on every passing day.

In this context, we would like to put forth our demands for your kind consideration, as follows –

1. To immediately undertake the necessary rescue and relief measures for the affected persons, victims and bring back the people who have fled into the jungles out of fear and ensure complete security, food relief, medical treatment, shelter for homeless.
2. To declare compensation of Rupees Ten Lakh to the next kin of the deceased persons during the violence and bear all the medical expenses of the people injured during the riot.
3. To dismiss the present Government for its utter failure of the governance systems to protect the lives, property and dignity of the people and to take stern action against the individuals or organizations including the ministers and leaders who instigated/participated/involved in the violence.
4. That all organizations who had declared the Orissa Bandh, led the mob on during funeral procession and who have been directly involved in the violent attacks on people, should be declared as “terrorist” organizations and should be put under the same category of other banned organizations in the country, with immediate effect.
5. That the brutal killing of Swami Laxmananda and his associates should be thoroughly and impartially investigated, and that the killers be punished in accordance with the law.
6. To stop the so-called Asthi Kalas Jatra throughout the state as declared by Mr.Pravin Togadia; which is intended to spread communal vandalism to other areas.


The Press Release is signed by:
1. Mr.Anil Choudhury, Eminent Social Scientist
2. Mr.Wilfred D’Costa, General Secretary, INSAF
3. Mr. Prasant Paikray, Convener, INSAF Orissa Adhoc Committee
4. Mr.Kedar Roy, Columnist and Political Analyst
5. Mr.Sangram Mallik, Dalit Rights’ Activist
6. Mr.Narendra Mohanty, Social Activist, Kandhamal
7. Mr.Sudarshan Chhotra, Journalist
8. Mr.Dhirendra Panda, Human Rights’ Activist