Orissa: VHP all set to charge communal atmosphere as elections approach

The Telegraph, March 10, 2009

VHP fishes in Orissa waters

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, March 9: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has moved in to charge the communal atmosphere in Orissa ahead of the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, two days after the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition snapped.

VHP chief Ashok Singhal today dubbed chief minister Naveen Patnaik “anti-Hindu” and announced a month-long nation-wide campaign by the Dharma Suraksha Manch, a Sangh parivar affiliate, to “protect” the Hindu religion.

The decision was taken here yesterday, at a huge congregation of sadhus held barely 24 hours after Patnaik had dumped the BJP. Singhal gave clear hints that Orissa would be at the campaign’s focus.

“I consider Naveen anti-Hindu,” the VHP chief said. “We will work on a war footing to counter anti-Hindu forces.”

A senior VHP leader said the outfit would “activate” its organisational base, dormant for a decade since the BJP became a BJD ally. “Now a concerted effort will be made to revitalise the various parivar fronts in Orissa to create an advantage for the BJP.”

Many parivar activists see Orissa as the second “Hindutva lab” after Gujarat. It’s in Orissa that Australian missionary Graham Staines and his young sons were burnt to death a decade ago. Christians were attacked in the state last year by alleged parivar supporters, setting the stage for the BJD-BJP split.

The BJP will no longer hold Hindutva activists back if they want to foment trouble but Patnaik too will have a free hand to crack down on them.

BJD and Congress sources said they feared communal trouble. An RSS leader confirmed that the “Hindu card” would be played in Orissa but ruled out violence..

Singhal lambasted Patnaik for his failure to catch the killers of VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, whose murder last August had set off the attacks on Christians.

“The state government knows who masterminded and executed the killing… but is shielding them,” he alleged.

Modi to star

Narendra Modi will be the BJP’s star campaigner in Orissa along with central leaders such as L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh, state BJP chief Suresh Pujari said today. The party will launch its campaign at a rally — Vijay Sankalp Samavesh — here on March 16.