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The human faces of the Orissa violence
Published on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 01:46 in Nation » India section
Tags: Orissa, Kandhamala District , Kandhamal
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Kandhamal: Ten people have died so far in the violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district and thousands are without food and shelter for last five days. The district continues to burn after VHP leader Swami Laxminanada Saraswati and four of his followers were shot dead last Saturday.
Fifty-five-year-old Pushpalata Nayak's house has been burnt down and her family has been without food and shelter for four days. Most people in Badimunda village share her fate.
"No one is here to protect us. Police is fleeing when the mob comes. We are old people, where shall we go? At this age how can we change our religion? If God does not want to save us, then let us die," says Pushpalata
Fifty houses have been burnt down by a violent mob in the village and all the house belong to Christians. Even the houses of some of those who had reconverted to Hinduism were torched.
Some of the victims however feel communal hatred was not the only motive.
A victim of the violence, Dubagiri Diggal says, "I do not believe we were attacked because of our religion. Some of our neighbors in the village because of political rivalry and jealousy of our relative affluencey attacked us."
The villagers have pooled whatever foodgrains were left to feed mostly the elderly and the children. The district administration has opened free kitchens at two places, but a large number of victims are too scared to move out of their houses.
Curfew has been imposed at various places and shoot at sight orders issued.
Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Southern Range, Satyabrate Sahoo says, "The situation is still tense especially under nine police stations in Kandhamal, but under control now. We need more security personnel so they can cover the interior pockets."
Meanwhile at the ashram of Chakapada in Kandhamal district, followers of Swami Laxamananda Saraswati - a key VHP leader, who was shot dead along with four of his followers on Saturday night - are shattered.
The inmates, some of them children from very poor families, are not sure what the future would be like.
An ashram inmate, Manika Behera says, "The Swamiji was so good to us. He used to love us more than our parents. We all feel like orphans now."
Police have arrested more than a 100 rioters and four others have been detained in connection with the attack on the ashram.
Deployment of heavy security forces, announcing compensation for victims and giving assurances to take action against the miscreants are just temporary measures to deal with the situation.
The bigger issue at Kandhamal is religious conversion and until that is addressed, Kandhamal is likely to burn again and again.
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Sir,
Mr.Jajati Karan's conclusion that"the bigger issue at Kandhamal is religious conversion and until that is addressed Kandhamal is
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yes...the summary is that everything is because of religions conversions...that should stop and every thing will be fine
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