By Jatindra Dash, IANS
Phulbani (Orissa) : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Orissa Wednesday to assess the situation in riot hit Kandhamal district amidst reports of fresh violence in the region over the past two days.
Hundreds of people Monday torched two houses, one each at villages Rabingia and Barpada, about 150 km from district headquarter Phulbani.
Another mob attacked a house at Daringbadi village Monday, the police said.
A senior district police official told IANS there was no report of fresh violence since Tuesday morning, “but the situation continues to remain critical”.
Patil is scheduled to visit some parts of the riot-hit district, about 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. At least three people were killed in the district and dozens injured in communal clashes since Christmas Eve.
The home minister arrived at the state capital Wednesday morning, to be received by state congress president Jayadev Jena, leader of opposition J.B. Patnaik and senior officials, including state chief secretary Ajit Tripathy.
On Dec 24, mobs allegedly owing allegiance to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal torched 14 churches in the district. Christian groups claim that nine people were killed in the attack.
The Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in Orissa has been accused of not taking appropriate and timely action in the matter.
The state government has clamped a curfew in the district and deployed more than 1,500 policemen, including three companies of paramilitary forces, but the situation continues to remain tense.
Kandhamal has a population of over 600,000. Of them, 450,000 are from the Hindu Scheduled Tribe (ST) Kandha while most of the others are Panas, 95 percent of whom are Christians. The majority of the riot victims in the hill-slope villages surrounded by forests were Christians.
“Members of the Pana community are financially better off than the tribals. They have been dominating politics and occupy powerful posts in government,” Lambodar Kanhar, a tribal leader and secretary of Kui Samaj – the apex body of the Kandha tribe – told IANS. Kui is the mother tongue of the Kandhas.
The region has witnessed numerous clashes in the past over attempts of conversion and re-conversion of tribals and Panas by both Christians and Hindus.
The trouble had escalated in the early 1990s when the Kui, Kuvi and Kuee groups were added to the Kandhas in the ST list.
Since then, Panas – who are classified as a Scheduled Caste (SC) – have been demanding their inclusion in the ST list as well. An ST can continue to get extra benefits as a tribal even after conversion to Christianity, but a SC member cannot.
The Kandhas have been opposing this demand.
It was in this backdrop that Hindu and Christian groups clashed on Christmas Eve in Brahmanigaon, about 150 km from district headquarter Phulbani.
The problem intensified the same day when some people attacked the vehicle of local Hindu leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati near Daringbadi when he was on his way to perform a yagna in Brahmanigaon.
Then the tribals attacked Panas, damaged their churches and drove them out of their homes.
“Although there are isolated incidents of Panas attacking tribals, by and large it was a collective attack by thousands of tribals on Christian Panas and the main reason was not religion alone,” a district police official said.
Tribals feel local member of the state legislative assembly Padmanabha Behera and senior congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Radhakanta Naik have joined hands and are helping Panas.
To satisfy the majority Kandha community Behera, who was the state steel and mines minister, resigned last week. The state government also transferred the district collector, district superintendent of police and some local level police officers.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced that his government will not give tribal status to the Panas.