Herald, Panjim, 3 September 2008
Editorial
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik says recurring communal violence
has tarnished the image of his state. In an interview with Indian
Express, Patnaik yesterday said: "The attack on the ashram, as well as
what happened thereafter, I repeat, what happened after that, both are
deplorable. Those who indulged in these savage acts… stern action will
be certainly taken against them."
These are fine words, but why aren't they backed by action? Why has an
avowedly secular politician become a prisoner of his coalition
partner, the BJP? Why is his government preventing political leaders
and human rights activists from entering Kandhamal? He has even ruled
out a CBI probe into Swami Laxmanananda's murder, proposed not only by
the Church, but also by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, saying the
judicial inquiry he has ordered is "adequate", though we all know it
will take years to reach a verdict.
Orissa needs more central forces, Patnaik says. But the state already
has enough. Seven companies were stationed in Orissa as reserve.
Subsequently, 10 companies of the CRPF were pulled out from Jharkhand
and Bihar, and sent there. Another six companies of the Rapid Action
Force (RAF) stationed in Hyderabad and Jamshedpur were subsequently
diverted to Orissa. The central paramilitary presence in Orissa stands
at 33 companies, or five-and-a-half battalions. According to The
Economic Times, it is almost half of the number deployed in
Chhattisgarh to fight the Naxalites!
The real problem, according to Archbishop of Cuttack Raphael Cheenath,
who filed a writ before the Supreme Court yesterday demanding its
intervention, is that they are all being deployed in district towns
and not being sent to the remote areas, where armed gangs of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) goons are running amok.
On Monday, the Orissa Government admitted that over 558 houses and 17
places of worship had been burnt in the riots. Chief Secretary Ajit
Kumar Tripathy said that the situation was 'under control'. But even
as he spoke, VHP mobs burnt down at least 20 houses of Christians, and
destroyed a church, a convent and two hostels, apart from 10 prayer
halls. Police recovered three bodies in Kandhamal on Monday.
Claiming that the situation had "substantially improved", authorities
suspended the curfew from 6 am to 6 pm yesterday. But, according to
The Hindustan Times, at least 80 houses were torched in fresh arson in
villages of the Tikabali and Sarangada areas of Kandhamal district
between noon on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
Yesterday, for the very first time since the violence broke out,
Secretaries to the government visited Kandhamal district to see the
situation. Patnaik visited Kandhamal just a day earlier. And Union
Home Minister Shivraj Patil will be visiting Orissa today. That all
these 'honourable men' could not get moving earlier, exposes the real
level of their concern about the situation.
Worst of all, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) has
said the Church "is shocked" to learn that the Christians are "forced
to become Hindus and destroy their own Churches, in which they have
been worshipping so long." To force people to 're-convert' to Hinduism
and then tear down or burn their places of worship is an act of
medieval savagery.
And what should one say about organisations like the Hindu Janajagriti
Samiti, which attacked the Church for keeping its educational
institutions closed on 29 August in protest against the slaughter. Are
we to interpret it as their support for these acts of savagery? Can
India progress with primitive thinking like this?
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