Orissa : brute reconversion of Dalit and Adivasi converts by the Sangh

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne190108Letter_from_orissa.asp

Re-Convert Or Die

What's happening in Orissa is a brute reconversion of Dalit and Adivasi converts by the Sangh. BISWAMOY PATI explains the history

Most reports on the communal violence in Kandhamal highlight the obvious: that the Hindutva outfits have targeted the Christians. Nevertheless, the history of caste formation over the last two centuries in Orissa could provide insights into some complexities.

It might sound strange but a major effort to Hinduise the Kandhamala-Phulbani tract was made by the colonial and "internal" Oriya exploiters in the 19th century. This was the logical fallout of a drive that was aimed to tap the natural resources of this tract and harness it to the machinery of colonial and feudal exploitation. It was closely linked to the enterprise of building Siva temples in this tract and can be traced back to 1855. Thus, colonial officials like Dinabandhu Patnaik (tahsildar – headquarters, Bisipara) recruited forced labour from the Kandhamal region for the purpose. This drive ensured the conversion of tribals into Hinduism.

The colonial context meant a suspicion of Christianity. Consequently, in some cases this prevented conversions to Christianity. However, by 1950 we find a large section of the tribal Kandhas of the region accepting Christianity as a means to get protection from exploitation by the Hindus. Interestingly, the Kandhas who had got Hinduised through the land settlements over the 19th century began to assert their majoritarian identity.

Thus, by 1994 we come across some of them preventing the Panas —– outcastes from entering a Siva temple at Phulbani. This had led to clashes between the Kandha converts to Hinduism and the outcaste Panas. In this sense it is clear that the "Hindus" of today or even those of 1994 need to be located as tribal converts to Hinduism.

The other side of the story relates to the Panas, classified by the colonialist, in close collaboration with Orissa's brahminical order, as a "criminal caste". The colonialists negotiated the hill people of Orissa through terror strikes in the first half of the 19th century. Working alongside was the classification strategy that hierarchised and incorporated tribal people to generate a workforce in agriculture. A mass of humanity comprising hill (pahariah) people were clubbed under categories like Panas, with systematic efforts to obliterate their history. Unlike the sections of the affluent Kandhas and other tribal groups who could get integrated into the caste formation, the poorer sections were "integrated" through terror as outcastes.

Over the 1950s and later, sections of Panas have converted to Christianity. In fact, such conversions need to be seen as a form of protest against brahminical Hinduism's oppressive features and as a part of a survival strategy, as has been noted earlier in the case of the Kandhas.

It is this problem that causes insecurity and fears of the fascist Hindu forces and explains their ire against Pana converts to Christianity in Orissa, Hindu fascism's
post-Gujarat laboratory. What is being witnessed in the name of re-conversion in Orissa is the attempt by fascist forces to convert tribals to Hinduism. The attack on Pana converts to Christianity is aimed at terrorising them into submission.

Pati is the author of Identity, Hegemony,
Resistance: Towards a Social History of
Conversions in Orissa, 1800–2000
He can be reached at:
biswamoypati@hotmail.com