Remembering
our Christian brethren
Kandhamal
2008-2014
Teesta
Setalvad
It is six years since nearly a 100 people were
massacred because they were Christians and poor and adivasis, some Dalits. The
pogrom under the BJD-BJP government in August 2008 -- the anniversary of the anti-Christian
pogrom falls next week – followed the mysterious murder of Swami Lakshmananda
Saraswati on a Sunday morning (August 23
2008). Praveen Togadia led the coffin over 300 kilometres all over Orisaa in
the three days that followed- a la
Milosoveic—the state administration allowed him and his hate ridden agenda free
access and nearly 6,000 Christian
houses and 300 churches were destroyed in the unabated violence that lasted
weeks (according to Initiative to Justice, Peace and Human Rights,
Bhubaneswar). Though two Fast Track Courts had been set up to try the
bloodshed and mayhem, only 3,181 of the over 11,300 named in 828 FIRs were
brought to trial with only 477 convicted for minor offenses like arson and
rioting. Recent investigations by activists have revealed that of the 27 murder
trials, except two all others have ended up in acquittals on murder charge due
to shoddy and poor investigation, lackluster prosecution and rampant witness
intimidation. Unlike in the case of Gujarat 2002, where Survivors and Activists
took great risks and ensured that the Supreme Court of India kept monitoring
the massacre trials, here justice has fallen by the wayside.
Manoj Pradhan, shockingly was elected as MLA from behind bars after
being put up as its candidate by the utterly shameless BJP (remember Sanjeev
Baliyan from western Uttar Pradesh is a Minister in Modi’s cavbinet!!!) despite
being accused in seven separate murders, had been sitting as sentry at the
entrance of the Fast Track Court and threatening the witnesses even in the
court premises. Despite
this, mid-way through the trial of the cases
committed to it, the two Fast Tract Courts were wound up in March 2013.
Genocidal crimes develop in eight stages –
classification, symbolisation, dehumanisation (of the target group),
organisation, polarisation, identification, extermination, denial (and
destruction of the evidence of crimes) – according to Dr Gregory H. Stanton of
Genocide Watch. Appropriate state intervention can arrest and reverse the
process in the early stages. But where the state itself is mute witness to,
complicit in or sponsor of the entire process, it becomes inevitable,
progressing from one stage to the next.
Kandhamal may not compare to the 2002 genocide in
Gujarat in terms of the intensity and spread of violence, the extent of
bestiality involved or the level of state collusion. But it is evident from the
160 page report of the National People’s
Tribunal on Kandhamal that 2011 was one of the worst years in
post-independence India for this religious minority. Mercifully, there was no
repeat of Kandhamal in terms of the intensity and consequences of communal
violence. But the attacks were numerous and widespread across 16 states and
union territories. The worst offences were committed in Karnataka, Orissa,
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Included in the list of crimes
were murder, grievous injuries and merciless beatings, rape and molestation of
women, desecration and destruction of churches and other places of worship,
illegal detention and arrests, abuse and insult of Christian clergy and the
laity. While highlighting 250 criminal incidents, the report claims that there
were a total of over 1,000 such incidents during 2011. The tribunal’s 160-page
report that all the ingredients of genocidal intent and action were present in
Kandhamal too: from the systematic dehumanisation and demonisation of
Christians, to organisational preparations and planning for the carnage, to the
obvious attempts at destruction of evidence. “The deliberate destruction of
evidence pertaining to these crimes came to the attention of the jury,” says
the report.
Here are two examples from the report of the
attempts to destroy evidence:
One: “The body of Rajani Majhi, the warden of an
orphanage at Padampur, was burnt and, according to Nicholas Barla, who
testified before the tribunal and quoted Fr Edward Sequeira, the lower part of
her body was completely burnt so as to destroy all evidence of alleged gang
rape.”
Two: “The collector of Bargarh forced Fr Basil Kullu to
remove all evidence of damage to and destruction of the Madhupur church and
hostels and even sent some persons to clear the debris that was lying in the
compound, indicating the nature and extent of the attack. (http://www.sabrang.com/cc/
The second instance is just one of the many
examples of the gross dereliction of duty and collusion of various state actors
and representatives of other democratic institutions: the police,
administration and officials in charge of local bodies. The shameful conduct of
the police in particular consisted in the refusal to act despite advance
intimation of criminal preparations; reluctance to take cognisance of crimes
through refusal to register first information reports; shoddy investigation;
inaction over victim survivors’ complaints of threats and intimidation or
forced conversions; or lodging of criminal complaints against witnesses in a
bid to turn the victims into the accused.
Compounding and concluding this sad narrative of
our recurring national shame is the all too familiar failure of the justice
delivery system after Kandhamal: shoddy charge sheets; public prosecutors
biased against the victims/witnesses; threats and intimidation of
victims/witnesses in the absence of any witness protection; and the insensitive
and biased conduct of some judges during trials. In short, Kandhamal seems
fated to remain yet another grim example of the failure of the institutions of
Indian democracy to protect the life and property of a section of citizens,
compounded by the lack of punishment of the perpetrators and denial of justice
to the victims.
Recent investigations by Anto Ankara reveal
that the suspicion that Kandhamal conflagration had a bigger agenda is
reinforced by the publication of the book ‘Harvest of Hate – Kandhamal in
Crossfire’, authored by Michael Parker and published by the mysterious ‘India
Foundation’ from a fake address in New Delhi. The title of the book itself is a
plagiarism of the title of the book by Swami Agnivesh and Rev. Valson Thampu -
‘Harvest of Hate – Gujarat under Siege’.
Contrary to the title, the 348-page book
ignored the brutal hate crimes unleashed on the Christians and brazenly
justified it. Even on a casual perusal, the language and the content would make
anyone wonder if it was really the work of a Seattle-based US anthropologist.
Apart from spreading canards about
Christianity, the ‘Harvest Hate’ has not spared even others who spoke out
against the witch-hunting of Christians. Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju -
presently chairman of the Press Council of India - who had made scathing
remarks during the hearing on the witch-hunting of the Christians in Kandhamal
has been bluntly accused of ‘following a script written by the Congress party’.
Despite the bulky book being mailed freely by
anonymous senders and ‘gifted’ to top church officials by even RSS leaders, it
was not available for sale at the address nor the email address evoked any
response despite carrying a ‘Foreword’ by senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitaraman,
presently a minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even the
fanciful ‘India Foundation’ has no telephone number. The suspicion about the
genuineness of the author behind ‘Harvest of Hate’ dubbed as ‘an honest
documentation’ by the ‘Organiser’ has been confirmed with the emergence of the
same book under a different name – ‘ORISSA in the CROSSFIRE – Kandhamal Burning’.
The ‘new’ book that is being e-marketed by
the new publisher - Lulu.com - had a new author too. Thus, Michael Parker
became Brannon Parker with hardly any change in the content of the book. But
the most shocking element in the double Parker episode is the ‘note’ attached
to the new book: “The Indian edition of the book was written under the name
Michael Parker”.
Shockingly, in his preface to ‘ORISSA in the CROSSFIRE – Kandhamal Burning’, Brannon Parker admits
that “In 2009, this report was presented to the US State Department by Ram
Madhav, a National Executive of the Rashtriya of the Swayamsevak Sangha.” (Page
three, last para). The Rama Madhav, RSS spokesperson had ‘gifted’ the
earlier book by ‘Harvest of Hate’ by Michael Parker to church leaders in
Kerala after seeking appointment for ‘harmony visit’ in 2012. This shows who is
behind this mysterious book and ghost authors. No wonder Madhav has been
recently honoured for this advocacy and deputed to the BJP as a senior leader.
Though saffron lobby has put up a website
called ‘Kandhamal Justice’ (http://kandhamaljustice.org/)
On August 11,2014 Digvijay
Singh raised this matter in the Rajya Sanha. Referring to books that
were spreading communal ideology, Singh said, "There are books like
'Harvest of Hate' and 'Kandhamal in crossfire' authored by Michael Parker and
another book 'Orissa in crossfire' by Brannon Parker. These books are published
by India Foundation." He said there is no information about the publisher
neither on the book nor on the internet. "The name of the publisher is
missing...We went to the address of the publisher, but the publisher was not
found. On internet, there is no information about India
Foundation. Moreover, the foreword of these books is written by Cabinet
Minister Nirmala Sitaraman," he said and demanded ban on these books and
an enquiry into the issue.The Congress leader also warned that if government
allows circulation of such books, it will lead to further spread of communal
violence in the country.
With the brazen declarations of Mohan Bhagwat that this
country is not 'Bharat' but 'Hindu-sthan' and already a Hindu rashtra, with the eerie silence of the
pracharak-turned Prime Minister, the signs are more than ominous. Will we all
and Indian democracy withstand this onlsaught?
Ends
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