MINERS' PARADISE

COVER STORY

Politics and the pits

Illegal mining, often with political patronage, is making the state lose revenues and millions of tribal residents their habitats and livelihoods.

MINERS' PARADISE

By Prafulla Das in Bhubaneswar

ILLEGAL mining in Orissa was never before as hotly debated as it has been in recent months. Successive governments were always so eager to protect the interests of the companies engaged in mining that reports about illegal mining and smuggling of minerals were never taken seriously. Little action was taken against those who violated mining and forest laws and jeopardised the well-being of the millions who have for generations lived in the mineral-rich regions of the State.

It was in the 1960s, when Biju Patnaik headed a Congress government, that an expressway was built between the mineral-bearing region and the Paradip port, and this road, over the years, has provided the main route for minerals mined in the State to leave the country. Illegal mining caught public attention after opposition parties raised the issue in the State Assembly with some genuine concern in July last year. Before that, scant attention was paid even to the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General about illegal mining.

In the latter half of 2009, opposition parties sent teams to the areas where illegal mining was rampant. It soon became clear that illegal extraction and smuggling of iron ore, manganese and other minerals had been going on for several decades and had assumed serious proportions from the mid-1990s. The past decade saw further escalation in mining activity as the demand for iron ore and other minerals grew in the international market. It also became evident that various departments of the State government had been turning a blind eye to the virtual loot. In the process, the State exchequer suffered immense losses and the local population derived no benefits. Indeed, for the tribal people who had lived on the land for many generations in Keonjhar and other mineral-rich districts, mining destroyed their forest-based economy.

“In terms of indicators of overall welfare, villages closer to the mines have poorer health, education and production assets,” said an independent study.

The State government initially refused to admit that illegal mining was going on in many backward regions of the State where Maoists had gained a stronghold in recent years. But the growing criticism forced Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to order a Vigilance Department probe in July 2009. After that, skeletons started tumbling out of the cupboards of government departments.

Immediately after the probe was ordered, a few government officials and mining company officials were arrested. But by August, vigilance sleuths stopped all arrests despite registering a dozen cases. However, several months after the scam was unearthed, the Keonjhar district police started arresting small mine operators and those involved in illegal mining, storage and transportation of minerals.

The State government's formal admission of illegal mining came only when the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court started its hearings in the case in December 2009. It admitted to the CEC that a large number of mines had been running illegally for years together and that many mining companies had violated mining and forest rules. The admission did not reflect too well on Naveen Patnaik's slogan of transparency.

The CEC hearings, held on December 16, 2009, and then again on February 22 and April 5 this year, came in response to a petition filed in the Supreme Court in October 2009 by Rabi Das, a senior journalist and president of the civil society organisation Odisha Jana Sammilani. (Incidentally, five public interest petitions, filed in the Orissa High Court by concerned individuals seeking a Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) probe into illegal mining, are pending.)

Rabi Das approached the Supreme Court with the plea that the apex court direct the CEC to conduct a fact-finding study of the illegal mining in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and others districts. He sought the appointment of a commission to investigate and study the modalities of illegal machinations to fix responsibility on individuals in the government and outside it and recommend remedial measures that could be implemented immediately by the Centre and the Government of Orissa.

He also requested the apex court to direct the respondents to take effective steps to stop the illegal mining and prosecute the perpetrators, who had been violating the Mines and Minerals (Development) Act, 1957, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and other relevant laws.

The CEC has submitted an interim report after examining the matter in the three hearings, during which former Advocate-General Jayanta Das, counsel for the petitioner, presented the findings of a study conducted by Jana Sammilani, which had found that 155 mining leases in Orissa had no valid authority.

The CEC's interim report said: “Mining activities were going on in a large number of mines in Orissa without requisite approvals under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, environmental clearances, and Air and Water Acts. The mining activities also exceeded the production limit as approved under the mining plans. …A large number of mines have remained operational for long periods of time after the expiry of the lease period because of the delays in taking decisions on the renewal applications filed by the respective mining lease holders and consequently the mines becoming eligible for ‘deemed extension' as provided under Rule 24 (6), MCR, 1960.”

It also said: “A large number of mines are operating in Orissa (also in other parts of the country) after the expiry of the mining lease period. This is being done under the provision of ‘deemed extension' of mining leases provided under Rule 24 A (6) of the MCR, 1960 and is happening because the applications filed for the renewal of the mining leases remain undecided for a considerable period of time after the expiry of the mining lease period. …The ‘deemed extension' clause is primarily meant to deal with contingency situation and to ensure that the mining operations do not come to an abrupt end because of administrative delays in deciding on the renewal applications. This provision is not meant to be availed indefinitely. Moreover, continuing mining over a long period of time without renewal of the mining lease becomes a potential source for serious illegalities and irregularities.”

Counsel for the petitioner submitted that there was a need for a detailed investigation by an independent and competent body as the State Vigilance Department lacked the competent jurisdiction and reliability, especially since the political leadership was involved.

The State government, in its submissions before the CEC on the action taken against those engaged in illegal mining, mentioned the arrests made by the Vigilance Department and said that it had constituted a State-level enforcement squad, and the squad had detected 213 cases since July last year.

The government said that with effect from August 2009, it had introduced newly designed transit passes for use by those transporting minerals from the mining areas to other places in the country and abroad. The government told the CEC that a total of 596 mining leases had been granted to various companies so far, 351 of which had expired.

It informed the CEC that mining activities in 163 mines had been suspended because of the non-compliance of the statutory clearances and other violations. Guidelines regarding the renewal of mining leases had been issued on October 1, 2009. A total of 682 trade and storage licences had been suspended.

However, the State government seems to believe that extraction of minerals drives economic growth and creates jobs for local populations. That unregulated mining benefits only a few is still not accepted by the mandarins in the government who keep sending recommendations to the Centre for grant of mining leases.

In the rush for acquiring mining leases, many new companies were born in the past few years. Many companies, which already had mines in their possession, signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to set up new steel plants. Many of these companies continue to export iron ore and other minerals while their plans for industrial projects remain on paper. Orissa has already signed 49 MoUs for setting up steel plants and MoUs for over 20 coal-based power plants, a few alumina refineries and a port. But the government should realise that those who have come forward to invest lakhs of crores of rupees in these projects are primarily miners whose chief interest will be in extracting minerals.

The Chief Minister has promised action against illegal mining, but many believe that it is now up to the courts to take a final view of the matter and ensure that those who have been looting the State's mineral reserves are punished.

As for the judicious use of the mineral wealth, both the Centre and the State government need to take a fresh look at the mining sector. Those in the government should ask themselves why the vast majority of people living in the mining areas still live in abject poverty.

GROWING THREAT

Prafulla Das in Bhubaneswar

ORISSA now stands at a critical juncture in its ongoing battle against the Maoists. Strong opposition to Operation Green Hunt from the Left extremists has left the Naveen Patnaik government in a tight spot.

The killing of 11 jawans of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the State police in a landmine blast on the Govindpali ghat road in Koraput district on April 4, just two days before 78 CRPF men were killed in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, has made things difficult for the authorities who were readying for a massive anti-Maoist operation.

In the wee hours of March 24, Maoists killed three policemen inside the Ambajhari forest in Gajapati district.

In a bid to thwart any operation against them, the Maoists continue to block major roads in the Narayanpatna area of Koraput and damage roads and culverts. The extremists have also put up banners demanding the withdrawal of the Central forces from the region. Blocking roads with felled trees is a common method the Maoists adopt to prevent the movement of police teams in Malkangiri district, which shares borders with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

It is not the Maoists alone who oppose Operation Green Hunt. Over 5,000 tribal people from the areas of Malkangiri district where the Maoists have a strong presence staged a demonstration outside the collectorate in the district headquarters town of Malkangiri on April 2 against the operation.

These people, who gathered under the banner of the Konda Reddy Unnayana Sangha, demanded that basic amenities such as education, health care, road connection and electricity be provided in their areas. The administration, which has neglected the forest areas of the district for decades, is now finding it difficult to implement development programmes fearing Maoist attacks.

Maoists have not only targeted security personnel deployed in the area from time to time but also killed village heads, small traders and political activists at frequent intervals, branding them as police informers. More than 20 people have been killed in Malkangiri district in the past six years.

The police, however, deny the Maoist claim. About 90 per cent of the people killed by Maoists had no known links with the police, said Sanjeev Marik, Inspector General of Police (Operations).

“The Maoists are killing innocent villagers after branding them as police informers with the sole aim of terrorising the local people in order to strengthen their base,” said Marik.

Further, the Maoists have been damaging infrastructure such as school and government buildings in an apparent move to deprive the security personnel of a place to camp. Many such attacks have taken place in Sundergarh in recent months.

Mobile-phone towers have been targeted in the southern districts of Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri for the past several months. Railway tracks have been damaged on days when bandhs were called, in Sundergarh district and elsewhere.

Marik, who sees the Maoist issue as a complicated problem, says that the Maoists adopted double standards with regard to development work in the backward regions. “It is unfortunate that they are blowing up school buildings and other infrastructure while they themselves were blaming the administration for lack of development work.”

“The Maoists are a bunch of criminals who have no respect for democracy and the laws of the land. They are out to block development,” Marik added.

The Maoists, who have a strong presence in 17 of the 30 districts, killed 32 policemen and 28 civilians in 266 incidents reported in the State in 2009. Counter-operations by security forces have resulted in the arrest of 182 Maoists, neutralisation of 11, and the surrender of eight during the year.

The State government is now taking on the Maoist challenge with the help of four CRPF battalions and five battalions of the Border Security Force. More battalions of Central forces have been sought.

The government has focussed on enhancing the capabilities of the State police by raising the SOG, the Special Intelligence Group, four special security battalions, five India Reserve battalions, and the Orissa Special Security Force.

Sources in the police claimed that the police had been successful in containing the Maoist menace to some extent in Keonjhar, Jajpur, Sambalpur and Mayurbhanj. Efforts were on to improve the situation in Sundergarh.

The authorities, however, admit that the situation was out of control in the southern districts, where people were fleeing their homes. Opposition parties have blamed Naveen Patnaik for his government’s failure to contain the Maoists who appear to be gaining strength steadily. Bharatiya Janata Party State unit president Jual Oram even alleged that the ruling Biju Janata Dal was hand in glove with the extremists. The Chief Minister, however, said he would deal with them with a firm hand. Patnaik has been holding the Home portfolio since 2000, and his tenure has seen the maximum growth of the Maoist menace. In a bid to boost the morale of the police force, the State government has announced that the families of those killed in the landmine blast would be provided homestead land apart from a compensation package.

But the Maoists have issued fresh threats that attacks such as the ones carried out at Govindpali and Dantewada would be repeated if the State and Central governments did not stop Operation Green Hunt.

Top police officiers are tight-lipped about their new strategy.

Spreading Fast

Prafulla Das in Bhubaneswar
THE increase in Maoist activities in the forested and backward interior regions of Orissa in recent months is a clear indication of their growing strength in the State. On the other hand, the State government’s plans to thwart them have failed in virtually all aspects, barring the arrest and killing of some of them.

The Maoists have capitalised on the virtual absence of the administration in areas that do not have roads and other basic facilities, including hospitals and schools. They now have a strong presence in 18 of the State’s 30 districts and are entering newer areas every day.

The Special Operations Group (SOG), the anti-naxal strike force of the police, has not been able to penetrate the Maoist strongholds deep in the forests. Malkangiri district, which shares its borders with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, is a good example of this.

The Maoists obviously enjoy the support of both tribal and non-tribal people in these areas. Faced with neglect by the administration, the local people have turned silent supporters of the extremists.

The Maoists have won over the majority of the tribal people by taking up their demands with the administration. The extremists have boycotted elections, observed bandhs and put up posters and banners to highlight the people’s demands.

For the police and the administration, the situation has taken a turn for the worse since the Centre and the State government announced recently the launch of a special operation. The Maoists, who almost routinely targeted railway lines and telecommunication networks, besides attacking policemen, forest staff and “police informers”, recently turned their focus on a member of the political class. In Mayurbhanj district on October 13, they attacked Sudam Marandi, president of the Orissa unit of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and a former member of the Lok Sabha. Marandi escaped under cover of darkness, but the Maoists killed three policemen and took away two AK-47 rifles.

The State government had announced that top officers of various government departments would visit different districts to review development works. But most of the bureaucrats simply did not go. As a result, development work suffered and the Maoists gained support. Now, the situation has reached a point where bureaucrats are scared of visiting the districts because of the naxal strikes.

The Naveen Patnaik government is contemplating a special drive to reach out to the people by involving both the administration and the police in it. “We are now planning to adopt a two-pronged approach to deal with the Maoist problem,” said Prakash Mishra, Director-General of Police (Intelligence). The administration would reach out to the people in Maoist strongholds with the help of the police, women’s self-help groups and such other social groups, he said.

The State government has also not been able to strengthen its police force. The policemen on duty at police stations in the naxal-affected areas face frequent attacks. On several occasions the Maoists have been successful in looting arms and ammunition from police stations and armouries.

The SOG has been ineffective largely because it does not have enough men – it has only 1,100 personnel. As regards raising India Reserve Battalions, the State government has been able to raise only three so far. For two more IRBs, the recruitment process has been completed and the cadets are to undergo training. Although the Centre has sanctioned another IRB, the State government has not been able to start the process of recruitment.

The State police have also not been able to coordinate effectively with the police of neighbouring States except Andhra Pradesh. While Orissa and Andhra Pradesh have special forces to deal with the Maoists, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand do not.

With the administration failing to implement the pro-poor welfare schemes, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the police ill-equipped to take on the Maoists, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demands additional Central forces whenever there is a major Maoist attack in the State.

There are six battalions of Central paramilitary forces deployed in different parts of the State for various duties, including the anti-naxal operations. The Centre is yet to fulfil the State government’s demand for seven additional battalions of Central forces for the anti-Maoist operations.

“The State government cannot fight the Maoists by using the police force or announcing development schemes,” says Janardan Pati, secretary of the Orissa State Committee of the CPI(M).

When thousands of tribal people sought land rights and agitated against the non-tribal people who had taken away their land in the past, the State government did not arrest even a single non-tribal person on the charge of taking away tribal land, says Pati.

He was of the view that the armed struggle by the outlawed CPI(Maoist) would not succeed in defeating the ruling class in the country. He, however, said the Maoists should not be treated as an enemy of the country. The problem, he added, could be solved only by ensuring economic development of the poor by providing them land, employment and basic necessities.

Drain of wealth

PRAFULLA DAS
in Keonjhar

Illegal mining activities dent the image of Naveen Patnaik’s government in Orissa.
IN Bayakumutia village, 22 kilometres from the district headquarters town of Keonjhar, the wails of a girl rent the air one morning in August. Her 12-year-old younger sister had died after suffering from high fever for some days. The nearest government hospital is 7 km away, and her father, Sukra Juang, could not take the child there for treatment.

This is not an isolated incident. The cries of Sukra Juang’s daughter echo the sufferings of thousands of hapless families in Orissa’s Keonjhar district. They lead miserable lives despite the wealth of resources that surrounds them.

The district has immense forest as well as mineral wealth. About 30 per cent of its total area has dense forest cover. It sits over vast mines of iron ore, manganese, chrome and other minerals. But its population has benefited little from these. The district has remained at the bottom in terms of development indices. Illegal mining that cost the State huge revenue losses, environment pollution, malaria and some unknown diseases, man-elephant conflicts and so on have plagued it in recent years.

The mining scam that figured prominently in the Budget session of the State Assembly in July brought this situation into sharp focus. It rocked the Naveen Patnaik government and dented the Chief Minister’s image.

FACILITATORS
For years, the law has taken a back seat in Keonjhar with the mine mafia, private companies, contractors, transporters and criminal gangs looting the mineral resources at will across the district. Unregulated mining has wreaked havoc in the region in the past nine years.
What is most shocking is that those in power have been aware of the theft of minerals. Thousands of mineral-laden vehicles rumble along the district’s roads from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Rules framed to check illegal mining and trading in minerals are flouted, often with the connivance of the administration.

The mafias operate in a well-organised manner. To facilitate illegal mining, many posts in the Departments of Mines, Forests and Police are kept vacant. The fact that there have been only six Class IV employees in the Mines Department to handle as many as 20 weighbridges meant for mineral-laden vehicles makes this clear. Moreover, the number of weighbridges has been too small to cope with the volume of minerals being handled. The government has admitted this in the wake of the expose.

The State government had formulated rules in 2007 for the prevention of theft, smuggling and illegal mining of minerals. However, these were not implemented properly. The task forces constituted for the purpose were hardly put to use.

The mining scam is not limited to Keonjhar. The recent scrutiny of records of the eight mining circles by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealed that there were no government checkgates in six circles and no government weighbridges in four. “Due to lack of checkposts/weighbridges, the minerals were transported without any check of the quality and quantity. In the absence of government weighbridges, weighments were done at private weighbridges, leaving scope for leakage of revenue,” the CAG pointed out.

The latest CAG report dealt in detail with several facets of the illegal mining. But the State government chose to remain silent.

The Central government agencies in charge of keeping an eye on violations of mining and forest laws too have ignored the problem. No survey was carried out either in Keonjhar or elsewhere to ascertain how reserve forests and government land were being illegally mined. In many cases, those who had obtained mining leases for non-forest land carried out mining in forest areas without obtaining the necessary clearance. There are scores of cases where mine owners have kept their own mines untouched and extracted ore from areas outside their limits. Many big companies are allegedly involved in such practice.

“There is not a single mine in Keonjhar where everything is going on in a fair way. A sincere scrutiny by any authority in the entire district would prove this,” said Mohan Majhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who was formerly Deputy Chief Whip of the ruling alliance in the State Assembly.

Majhi, who hails from Keonjhar, has been demanding the constitution of an “Orissa State Mining Enforcement Authority” to take stringent action against the mine mafia. “The government is not making any serious effort to check the illegal mining and loss of revenue,” he lamented.

ORIGINS
Illegal mining of iron and manganese ores started in a big way in 2000 when the demand for steel grew in the international market. Coincidentally, the same year, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik took over as the Chief Minister of the State. Though Patnaik promised to run a transparent government, the looting of minerals in Keonjhar and other districts started increasing by the day. A stage reached when more than 25,000 trucks were engaged in the transportation of minerals from Keonjhar district alone.

The services of the Railways were also used to transport minerals. The mine mafia was thus able to take away extra quantities of ore since there was no facility available in the State to weigh the rakes carrying minerals. A few such cases had come to the notice of the government.

The loot by road was so organised that fake transit permits were printed and used to take away thousands of truckloads of minerals to different destinations within the country and to the ports at Paradip, Haldia and Visakhapatnam for export. The mafia always had the upper hand vis-a-vis the ground-level government staff, and the illegal trade continued, causing huge revenue loss to the state.

The Naveen Patnaik government said in the Assembly that owing to the non-availability of transit passbooks printed in the government press, such books were printed outside and were being authenticated by the authorities of the Mines Department. But the truth lay elsewhere. For obvious reasons, the authorities did not collect the books from the government press for four years despite giving requisitions for them.

In cases where action was taken against violators of mining laws, the proceedings often led nowhere. The violators used loopholes in the laws to escape punishment.

The fact that large volumes of minerals were being illegally mined and taken away from Keonjhar is evident from the number of vehicles seized by the Mines Department. More than 200 minerals-laden vehicles seized by the authorities are lying near the office of the Deputy Director of Mines at Joda town in Keonjhar. Many of them operated with fake registration numbers, and nobody came forward to claim them.

The issue of illegal mining in Keonjhar had been raised several times earlier at different forums, including the Assembly. But it never hit the headlines as it did during the Budget session of the Assembly this year. It is said that the BJD-BJP split before the Lok Sabha elections contributed to the unfolding of the scam.

The scam began to surface when BJP legislators alleged irregularities in the mining activities of Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited. The other companies that were mentioned were S.N. Dasmohapatra and Arjun Ladha. The Congress, as the major opposition party in the State, also joined the issue.

The proceedings of the Assembly were disrupted for days together, with the opposition criticising Patnaik and demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the scam. The government, however, put on a brave face. Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty claimed that no illegal mining was taking place in Keonjhar and that the government was taking adequate measures to check such activities, if any.

However, when the opposition parties continued to embarrass the government on the floor of the House, the Chief Minister directed the Vigilance Department to probe the allegations.
Soon vigilance sleuths visited the spot and submitted a report to the government. Thereafter, they registered a case against eight persons, including two mine operators, five employees of the Departments of Mines and Forests and a former Mines Department official. The accused were arrested. They have since secured bail from the High Court.

Both the BJP and the Congress reiterated their demand for a CBI probe. While the BJP said that it would approach the Central Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court on forest and environment law violations, Pradesh Congress Committee president K.P. Singh Deo took up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sought a CBI probe.

Former Minister Bijoy Mohapatra alleged that the mining scam involved minerals worth at least Rs.10,000 crore. Experts say the amount involved could be bigger if all aspects of the scam are probed as per law.

There are indications that politicians from almost all major parties are linked to the scam, directly or indirectly. “The Vigilance Department is not the right agency to investigate the scam. The Chief Minister should immediately hand over all illegal mining cases to the CBI if he wants to keep his image clean,” said Rabi Das, political analyst and president of the Odisha Jana Sammilani.

Hundreds accused in Orissa riot cases on the run

Prafulla Das
BHUBANESWAR: The administration in strife-torn Kandhamal district of Orissa is now grappling with a crisis that had arisen in the wake of the recent anti-Christian violence. The district police now have around 800 riot-related cases to handle and hundreds of people wanted in these cases are now on the run.

While looking for those involved in the riot, the police are also struggling to maintain peace as sporadic attacks on Christians continue and Maoists expand their network and activities.

A 45-year-old man belonging to the minority community was hacked to death by a group in the Tikabali area of the district on Thursday, and armed Maoists attacked a forest beat house and took away five weapons on Wednesday night. Police have registered a total of 784 cases relating to the riot so far. The number of accused named in these cases stands at 11348, a senior police official told The Hindu on Friday.

Besides, the number of those not mentioned in the 784 First Information Reports registered till date was around 89000, the officer said. The police have been able to arrest only 700 persons and filed charge sheets in a few cases. Those listed as accused are still evading arrest by hiding in the forests during the day, sources said.

The cases registered relate to killings, murderous attacks, burning and damaging of houses, churches and prayer houses, and looting.

The district had witnessed attacks on Christians and their houses and places of worship soon after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates on August 23. A Catholic nun was also raped in the district on August 25.

The two cases pertaining to the murder of the VHP leader and the rape are being investigated by the Crime Branch of the State police, while the remaining cases are being handled by the 15 police stations spread across the district. Meanwhile, the State government has initiated steps to establish two fast track courts in Kandhamal for speedy disposal of the riot cases. The two courts are likely to be inaugurated in the first week of March.

Chilling memories

PRAFULLA DAS in Kandhamal
Charge sheets have finally been filed in the nun rape case in Orissa, but the wounds of last year’s violence are yet to heal.

VIOLENCE has by and large come to an end in Kandhamal, but the district, now heavily policed by paramilitary forces, continues to live in the shadow of the communal carnage that tore it apart five months ago. The police administration, meanwhile, has managed to file charge sheets in the case of the rape of a nun and also that of the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008, which sparked off the lootings, arson and killings. Investigations in both cases, however, have been kept open because several suspects have not been arrested so far.

Lakshmanananda Saraswati of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was killed by suspected Maoists. The Crime Branch has now confirmed that one of the seven people charge-sheeted for the murder is a Maoist, while the others are Maoist sympathisers who belong to the local population. Ten men have been charge-sheeted in the rape case, and efforts are on to arrest 20 other suspects.

Meanwhile, the police in Kandhamal have registered a total of 780 cases in police stations across the district on the basis of complaints filed by riot victims. More than 11,000 people have been named as accused. Only 700, though, have been arrested so far. Many of the tribal people who attacked the Dalit Panas are on the run to avoid police action.

For the Dalit Panas, a largely Christian community that faced the wrath of their tribal brethren, the Kuis, life has not been the same ever since. Kandhamal was lush green when the violence started at the end of the rainy season last year. Now it is filled with the sights and sounds of spring. Flowers are now blooming across the district, but the divisive tensions that came to the fore with last year’s violence are refusing to go away.

More than 40 people were killed in the violence that followed the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Churches and homes of Christians were burnt down. Some 25,000 people fled their homes and sought shelter in relief camps set up in schools and other government buildings. They fled with their children, hiding in forests and hilly terrains, and braving the rains for days until they reached the camps in other parts of the district or in Berhampur, Bhubaneswar or Cuttack.

The number of people still living in relief camps is down to 6,500. But most of those who left the camps chose not to stay on in Kandhamal and are trying to rebuild their lives in Bhubaneswar or in other cities. People still living in the camps said that many of those who did return to Kandhamal could do so only after converting to Hinduism. Some district officials corroborated this version.

Ruben Digal (35), a resident of Breka village, said: “I have not been able to muster the courage to return to my village because if I go there I will have to change my religion and become a Hindu. We have been told by those working for the VHP and such other organisations that we should return to our villages as Hindus or leave Kandhamal for ever.”

Ruben has been living in a relief camp at the Tikabali block headquarter town since August 29, 2008, with his wife, two daughters and two sons. The administration has not been able to give him any work, and the education of all his children has come to a complete halt. One of his daughters, Runima, was a Class X student in a convent school at Raikia block when the violence drove them away from home. Like scores of other children in the camp, it is uncertain whether she will be able to appear in the board examinations that are now just a few months away.

A shopkeeper in Phulbani, the district headquarters, said: “The communal violence was the handiwork of divisive forces. The common man did not support the violence. Now the situation has improved, but people are apprehensive because the general elections are approaching.”

Most people are reluctant to talk about what happened. In the interior areas of Kandhamal, the suspicion seems to run deeper, and any outsider is suspect. The district is now largely peaceful, thanks to paramilitary personnel posted at sensitive locations, but sporadic clashes between members of different communities and between local residents and security personnel are reported from interior areas.

Indeed, the tensions between the tribal population and the Dalit communities have deepened, a situation that becomes particularly dangerous in the context of vote-bank politics. One consequence is that the people live in fear, while vested interests try to exploit the feeling of insecurity.

It is clear that Naveen Patnaik’s government has not been able to restore confidence in the local population. His government’s measures to rehabilitate the riot victims also fall far short of the actual requirements. Not a single damaged church has been rebuilt. As for the damaged homes, the compensation offered by the government is often not enough to rebuild them. “The roof of our house has multiple cracks, and all the doors and windows are burnt. What will we do with the Rs.20,000 that the government is going to give us for repairing the house?” said Sevika Digal, a resident of Tengedapathar who returned to her village recently. “The government should repair our houses instead of handing over the compensation money to us,” she said. A few other families in the village who had returned from relief camps said the sum of Rs.50,000, offered for completely damaged houses, was just not enough.

If the story of compensation and rehabilitation is one of too little too late, the people are also taking a hit as the economy of the district shows signs of distress in the aftermath of last year’s violence. Agriculture is suffering, and income from tourism has all but vanished.

The State government has announced a special development package for Kandhamal, but so far it is largely on paper. That the government is not serious seems evident from the fact that a top official who was appointed as Special Commissioner to oversee the implementation of the package continues to hold charge as Secretary of the Higher Education Department. The announcement of the package may help the State government to claim that it has done its bit. It may also help the ruling alliance to woo voters in the forthcoming elections. But political parties are unlikely to be in any great crisis to heal the wounds inflicted by the violence, for divisive politics brings in votes.

The Naveen Patnaik government passes off the Kandhamal violence as a case of ethno-communal conflict, denying that religious identity played a major role. But the flames were fanned by leaders who were trying to create a vote bank in the name of protecting the interests of the tribal Kui people of the district. Religion was a handy tool in their hands.

The violence raged for weeks as the tribal people were egged on by their leaders to attack the Dalit Panas. Policemen who tried to intervene were attacked, too. The violence was checked only after the administration swung into action and arrested a large number of people, including those belonging to the Sangh Parivar, following advisories from the Centre asking the State government to take strong measures to control the situation.

A facade of normality in Kandhamal

Prafulla Das
KANDHAMAL: From outside, the situation appears normal in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, which witnessed large-scale anti-Christian violence five months ago. But interaction with locals and administration officials on Monday made it clear that the divide on the lines of religion, caste and political affiliations was hampering restoration of peace.

Although life turned a bit normal with the opening of some schools and colleges, distrust among those belonging to different religions and supporting different political parties, and Kui tribals and Dalit Panas continues to be conspicuous. Such was the level of fear that virtually no one was ready to divulge his identity.

Situation in camps
But many of those sheltering in relief camps, having losing all hopes of returning to their villages, were eager to reveal their identity.

“We are not able to go back to rebuild our homes as Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists have been reiterating that we should convert to Hinduism if we want to return to our village or else leave Kandhamal for good,” said 60-year-old Bitaliya Digal of Toparbali, who is staying with his family members at the Tikabali camp.

More than 25,000 people took shelter in different relief camps in the district when communal violence was at its peak. The riots broke out after the killing of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23 last.

But a vast majority of those who were in these camps left the district, while a few hundred families returned to their villages. Many of those who returned to their villages reconverted to Hinduism.

CRPF presence
Despite heavy deployment of Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many people are apprehensive that the situation could turn worse in the run-up to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

More than 30 companies of Central paramilitary forces are now on duty in Kandhamal and the administration is trying its best to maintain this level until after the elections are over. But locals are of the view that tension will continue in Kandhamal for many more months to come.

Camps of fear

PRAFULLA DAS
in Kandhamal

Orissa: Christians in Kandhamal district continue to be a scared lot despite the assurances from the State administration.

FIFTY-YEAR-OLD Nalini Nayak is a shattered woman after her husband, Fidem Nayak, was killed by rioters during the recent anti-Christian violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district. Fidem was a pastor. He left his home in Tikabali along with two youth from his village on August 23 to organise a prayer meeting in a church in the neighbouring G. Udaygiri block the next day, a Sunday. But the worst was waiting to happen.

On the evening of August 23, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was killed by suspected Maoists at an ashram in Jalespata in the Tumudibandha area of Kandhamal. It triggered communal violence across the district.

Fidem and the two youth did not return to their village. Nalini received information that the three were hacked to death by rioters when they were returning home on August 25. Nalini’s house was looted and burnt down by miscreants the same day.

Nalini reached the relief camp set up for the riot-hit people in Tikabali town after spending four nights in a jungle with fellow villagers. Now it is almost two months since the violence, but she is in no mood to return to her village to rebuild her home.

“I will not return to my village because there is nothing left there for me. I will also not change my religion to Hinduism. Why should I convert when I have lost everything for no fault on our part?” Nalini said in a choked voice.

Of the 23,000-odd people who took shelter in the 19 relief camps set up for riot-hit families in Kandhamal, over 3,000 were in the Tikabali relief camp when violence was still spreading. With the incidence of violence decreasing in the district, the total number of refugees in the relief camps came down to 13,000 by mid-October; at Tikabali it was 900.

Many of the Christian families who had taken shelter at the Tikabali camp had by now left for distant towns as they were not willing to succumb to pressures from Hindutva forces to convert to Hinduism. Some families, however, have returned to their villages to become Hindus and resume normal life. But those like Nalini are still stuck in the camps.

Some people living in the camp have tried to return to their homes, but in vain. After spending more than a month in the Tikabali relief camp, 30-year-old Basant Digal went to his village along with his wife and sister-in-law in the hope of rebuilding his house. But a mob of around 40 people, many of them women, stopped them on their way.

“We were asked to convert to Hinduism if we wanted to live in the village, so we have returned to the camp. Some members of the group even tried to attack us when we refused to change our religion. We were lucky to escape death,” said Basant.

“Now we have lost all hopes in the administration. The police are going soft on those who killed people and burnt down houses. We don’t know what will happen to us even at the relief camp,” he added. The Christian families that agreed to become Hindus were also attacked in the subsequent days. The family of Sukhdev Digal continued to live in its home in Dagpadar village in Tikabali block until September 26, more than a month after violence started in the region. The family agreed to the condition laid down by Sangh Parivar activists that Christian families which wanted to live in the village should convert to Hinduism. But communal hatred finally took its toll.

On September 26, Sukhdev and two of his brothers, Bispat Digal and Santarai Digal, had gone to fetch relief materials from a village a few kilometres away. Since they could not return to their village before sunset, they took shelter in the house of a friend who belonged to the majority community. Around midnight, Sukhdev woke up to see a mob dragging his two brothers out of the adjacent room in which they were sleeping. The mob hacked his brothers to death. Sukhdev managed to flee under cover of darkness.

“I saw my brothers being killed by the mob, but I could not do anything to save them. There were about 100 of them and most of them were armed,” said Sukhdev.

Sukhdev ran a distance of 15 km to reach the Tikabali relief camp before sunrise. The next day, a police team accompanied him when he went to take his parents in his village to the relief camp. “I have lodged a complaint with the police and I am expecting them to take stringent action against those who killed my brothers.”

Tall claims
Even as the Naveen Patnaik government made tall claims about the situation in Kandhamal turning normal, the ground reality remained totally different.

“The government’s claim that peace is being restored with the help of peace committees formed at various levels is a hoax. Peace returns only in the villages where Christian families have opted to become Hindus, and the authorities know it very well,” said a resident of Ladapadar village in Phiringia block where 22 of the 30 families changed their religion to Hinduism on October 2.

In Ladapadar, Jonathan Digal converted to Hinduism and changed his name to Sujit Digal. “I will change my name officially after the situation becomes normal,” he said. Jonathan, who is now living with his grandmother, last saw his parents seven weeks back. Jonathan’s father Jakhyachandra Digal worked as a pastor in a church and lived in the G. Udaygiri area. Several days after the violence broke out, Jonathan got information that his parents had taken shelter in a relief camp in G. Udaygiri town.

Meanwhile, the VHP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bajrang Dal have dropped their plans to take out processions in villages across the State in memory of Swami Lakshmanananda. The State government had taken steps to prevent these rallies following a Supreme Court order to protect Christians in the State. The organisations, however, are now busy holding demonstrations in various towns demanding the arrest of the killers of the swami.

Maoist hand
Sabyasachi Panda, a top leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), in an interview to a group of journalists (including this correspondent), claimed that his outfit had killed the swami “because he was forcibly converting both tribals and Christians into Hinduism”.

Panda, who blamed the VHP and its allies for fanning communalism by spreading misinformation that militant Christians had killed the Swami, also accused Chief Minister Patnaik of allowing riots to spread in the district. “Communal violence spread to most areas of Kandhamal only because the State government allowed the VHP to take the body of the swami in a procession covering many areas in the district,” Panda said.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch of the State police has arrested three Maoists for alleged involvement in the killing of the swami. However, the Sangh Parivar is not in a mood to accept the fact that the swami was killed by Maoists.

The violence has been controlled to a great extent in Kandhamal after the arrest of some local leaders of the VHP, the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The arrests were made more than a month after the violence in the district, when the Centre kept pressuring the State government to take strong measures to contain the violence. On the other hand, the rioters have started attacking the State police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. These attacks began in protest against the arrest of those who were allegedly involved in the communal violence, which claimed over 40 lives and left thousands of houses destroyed. A constable of the State police was shot dead in a mob attack on the Gochhapada police station. A CRPF jawan was hacked to death later.

More than 600 rioters have been arrested in Kandhamal alone, while around 400 have been booked in other districts. More arrests are likely in Kandhamal, according to the police.

The administration has been finding it difficult to cope with the situation as the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti, an umbrella organisation of the Kondh tribal people, has been demanding the withdrawal of the CRPF.

Interestingly, Lambodar Kanhar, general secretary of the Samiti, is believed to have close links with the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is headed by the Chief Minister. Kanhar, who hopes to contest the coming Assembly elections on the BJD ticket, is also trying to attract the followers and supporters of the slain swami. He organised a meeting of the Samiti at Chakapad where the swami had an ashram. Those who attended the meeting paid rich tributes to the Swami.

There is no doubt that the ruling BJD-BJP alliance is out to capitalise on the polarisation that has taken place in the State after the murder of the VHP leader. But the Chief Minister has started making bold statements in order to keep his “secular credentials” intact.

In an interview to a television channel, he went to the extent of terming the Bajrang Dal a fundamentalist organisation. But it is common knowledge that Naveen Patnaik cannot make a hat trick as Chief Minister if his party severs its ties with the BJP.

In his attempt to underplay the communal violence, Patnaik said that the long-standing ill feeling between the tribal people and Dalits had aggravated the situation in the district. He announced a special development package for the district to make the poor of Kandhamal happy. But with 78 per cent of the families in the district living below the poverty line, the package appears to be too small, too late.

Patnaik, who holds the Home portfolio, has handed over to the Crime Branch the investigation into the cases pertaining to the killing of the swami and to the killings, rapes, and damaging of houses, churches, prayer houses and other properties . A total of eight persons have been arrested in the case relating to the rape of a Catholic nun in the K. Nuagaon area of Kandhamal on August 25.

The Chief Minister, whose so-called clean image has suffered a severe beating in the wake of the violence, has refused to transfer any of these cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation despite demands from various quarters. More than 900 cases pertaining to the violence have been registered and the number is growing.

As the situation in Kandhamal remains volatile, only a thorough investigation of these cases and action against the guilty can help the Naveen Patnaik government regain whatever credibility it had.

Project Orissa

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar & Kandhamal
The Sangh Parivar’s brutal attacks on Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district are part of a political project.

THE greenery and the low clouds caressing the thickly forested hills, which greet one as one drives into Kandhamal district, are in stark contrast to what lies ahead: deserted villages where houses have been burnt down. Their residents have fled the worst communal violence Orissa has seen, which claimed at least 30 lives.

The carnage began at midnight on August 23-24, hours after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples were shot dead at around 8 p.m. at his ashram at Jalespata, under Tumudibandha police station limits, in the same district. The assailants, numbering about 30, used automatic weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles.

The police suspected the hand of the Communist Party of India (Maoists), and Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda told mediapersons as much on telephone at 11 p.m. The news soon spread and in no time protesters from Sangh Parivar organisations, including the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, were out on the streets erecting roadblocks at many places, including the capital, Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack.

Over the next two weeks, thousands of houses were looted and burnt down by the attackers who targeted members of the Christian community. Kandhamal district was the worst affected, with the local administration confirming 16 deaths.

The situation took a serious turn when Sangh Parivar leaders rejected the police theory suspecting Maoist involvement and said militant Christians were behind the killing of Lakshmanananda. As if signalling the violence, protesters set fire to a private bus in Bhubaneswar around midnight on August 23 and also attacked several churches there.

By next morning, at almost all district-headquarter towns, activists of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the Hindu Jagarana Samukhya and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged demonstrations and blocked roads demanding the arrest of the swami’s killers. The VHP and the Bajrang Dal gave a call for a Statewide 12-hour bandh on August 25. The bandh brought life to a standstill that day. Many trains were held up at stations en route and not a single passenger bus or commercial vehicle was seen on the roads.

Business establishments and banks downed their shutters and all educational institutions remained closed as ordered by the State government. Barring the arrest of some protesters, throughout the State the police largely remained mute spectators to the harassment of people who ventured out of their houses during the bandh.

In Kandhamal, informed sources said, houses belonging to Christians were set on fire and pastors and members of the community were attacked and burnt alive. Scores of churches and prayer houses were burnt down in Kandhamal district. Outside Kandhamal, an orphanage was attacked in Bargarh district.

Rajni Majhi, a 19-year-old Hindu girl who studied in a local college but worked in the orphanage as an auxiliary nurse, was burnt alive and a priest was beaten up badly.

Kandhamal district was virtually in flames by August 24. Serious trouble started when the Naveen Patnaik government succumbed to VHP pressure and allowed followers of Lakshmanananda to take out the funeral procession from the swami’s ashram at Jalespata to the one at Chakapad, passing through hundreds of villages.

The procession started from Jalespata on August 24 afternoon and reached Chakapad the next afternoon after halting at Phulbani, the district headquarter town, for the night. Leaders of the Sangh Parivar, including Suresh Pujari, president of the BJP’s State unit, participated in the procession.

Hundreds of people had gathered en route to pay their last respects to Lakshmanananda. All hell broke loose when incensed crowds in the localities that the procession passed through attacked Christians there. Christians, who were perceived to be Congress supporters, were targeted everywhere; in some places many Hindu families were also attacked because they were Congress supporters. The attackers included activists of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar organisations, and workers of the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), parties that are partners in the government headed by Naveen Patnaik.

The violence also saw attacks on Christians who belonged to the Scheduled Castes and on people who claimed tribal status on the grounds that they spoke the Kui language of the Kondh tribal people. The Kui Samaj, which unites members of the native Kondh tribe in Kandhamal, was found to be very much on the side of the VHP and the ruling alliance.

Silent policemen

Informed sources said the policemen on duty at various police stations made no attempt to prevent the protesters from attacking Christians and their property.

The fact that the police did not open fire anywhere in Kandhamal district to stop the dance of death gave rise to the suspicion that they were acting on the instructions of their political bosses.

The protesters also attacked government officials and offices and damaged vehicles of the police and the civil administration. Prohibitory orders were clamped in the entire district and curfew was imposed in several towns.

As the additional police force made available in the district was engaged in protecting government establishments and facilitating the funeral procession, protesters continued with their aggression by felling trees and blocking roads that led to the interior pockets of the district. In many places, informed sources said, even neighbours turned enemies and burnt alive members of Christian families. People from neighbouring villages also joined in, looting and torching the houses of Christians, who fled into the surrounding forests and hills.

Many of the victims hid in the jungles for up to seven days and came out only when the police reached there and assured them safety. Soon the relief camps that the administration had set up were not enough to hold the homeless and the government set up more camps. At the overcrowded camps people were enquiring about the whereabouts of their near and dear who were missing even 10 days after the violence erupted.

Lakshmanananda’s body was cremated at Chakapad late on the afternoon of August 25 in the presence of three BJP Ministers of the State, several Members of Parliament, legislators, and leaders of the VHP, including Praveen Togadia, and other Sangh Parivar organisations. Togadia travelled from Bhubaneswar to Chakapad by road despite the curfew that was in force in several towns of Kandhamal district. He claimed that Christians were behind the killing of the swami and that conversion was the root cause of the unrest in the district.

In Bhubaneswar, he criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for its failure to protect the swami though the latter had informed the police about a threatening letter that his ashram at Jalespata received a day before the attack.

If Togadia was allowed to enter the district when violence was at its peak, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal and other politicians as also human rights activists were denied entry much later. Among those who were prevented from visiting the riot-hit region were Brinda Karat, Rajya Sabha member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a team of Congress leaders of Orissa and a four-member team of Left Members of Parliament led by Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India.

The entry restrictions were lifted on September 3 when Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited Kandhamal and reimposed the next day.

Several political parties and organisations demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the swami’s killing and the subsequent violence. But Patnaik said the Special Investigation Team set up to probe the killing of the swami and four others was capable of bringing the guilty to book. He did not say anything about the cases relating to the killings and the destruction of property in the violence at various places.

BJP pressure

On the other hand, the BJP put pressure on the government to arrest those involved in the murder of Lakshmanananda. In the face of criticism from the VHP, the party’s legislators even stalled proceedings in the State Assembly for a day in support of their demand. In what seemed like a well-organised drama, a section of BJP legislators also demanded that the party pull out of the government and support it from outside. However, the scenario changed soon and senior leaders of the party met the Chief Minister and assured him that the BJP would remain a part of the ruling alliance.

While all organisations of the Sangh Parivar insisted that conversion was the main reason for the communal tension in Kandhamal, the BJP urged the Chief Minister to implement strictly the laws pertaining to conversion and the ban on cow slaughter.

Meanwhile, the situation in the interior areas of Kandhamal remained tense even a fortnight after the outbreak of violence despite the government’s claim that the law and order situation was under control. Stray incidents of violence continued in remote pockets that remained inaccessible because the roadblocks were still in place.

In the prevailing circumstances in Kandhamal, the return of peace and harmony between the different communities is unlikely unless the government makes its presence felt at all levels of the administration and solves the problems of the poor among the tribal and the non-tribal population.

On the political front, a joint initiative by all political parties could restore peace and communal harmony in the district. But that is unlikely to happen as elections to both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly are scheduled for next year.

Inquiry commissions

The record of the BJD-BJP government shows that it has never been serious in its approach to ensure peace in Kandhamal. In fact, the district witnessed communal violence for more than a week in December last year following an attack on Lakshmanananda Saraswati a day before Christmas. At least four persons were killed and hundreds of houses of Christians were burnt down. A Hindu village, Brahmanigaon, was also attacked by members of the minority community.

The State government ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence and the commission, headed by retired High Court Judge Basudev Panigrahi, is continuing with its hearings.

Now, the government has ordered a judicial inquiry, headed by Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, a former High Court Judge, into the killing of Lakshmanananda and the communal violence that followed.

By the time the reports of the two commissions see the light of day, Kandhamal’s communal clashes may well have acquired a new dimension because of the interplay of social, political and cultural factors.

Communal card

THE issues that made Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a champion of Hindutva may be different from those being debated in Orissa today. But Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik seems to be following in Modi’s footsteps by playing into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the lone partner of the BJD in the ruling alliance.

Although Patnaik, as Chief Minister, reacted to the widespread communal violence, his party did not issue any formal statement condemning it. When other parties and organisations held peace rallies after the riots, the BJD did not organise any such meeting or programme.

Above all, BJD workers joined BJP activists to enforce the State-wide bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Sangh Parivar outfits. In Kandhamal, the political divide was very clear, with the BJD and the BJP brushing aside all their differences.

Apparently, realising that he was fast deviating from the path that his father Biju Patnaik followed as Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, in a statement in the State Assembly, claimed that the secular credentials of his government were well established and needed no explaining.

Moreover, the State government virtually supported the day-long bandh by ordering the closure of all educational institutions that day. Supporters of the bandh brought normal life to a halt and faced no opposition from the State administration in achieving that.

For reasons best known to it, the State government allowed the VHP to organise the funeral procession of the swami within communally sensitive Kandhamal, which had witnessed communal violence last December. The procession only added fuel to the communal fire that was smouldering for long. Ministers of the BJP and VHP leader Praveen Togadia were allowed to attend the cremation of the swami at Chakapad when Christians were targeted across the district. But some Congress leaders were arrested when they tried to enter Kandhamal.

Patnaik also placed under suspension Nikhil Kumar Kanodia, Superintendent of Police of Kandhamal, when violence was spreading in the district. Kanodia was suspended under pressure from some BJP Ministers, it was said. But what raised eyebrows was Patnaik’s visit to the site of the swami’s murder, Jalespata ashram, when he toured Kandhamal district. The BJD president was prompt to condemn the killing of the VHP leader and appeal to the people to maintain peace, but took 10 days to describe the communal riots as unfortunate. He termed both instances of communal violence in Kandhamal – the one last December and this one – as the two unfortunate incidents during his eight-and-a-half-year rule.

There were two kinds of reactions among the people about Patnaik’s stand on the killing of the swami and the violence that followed. While one section was of the view that Patnaik may not have been in the know of the Sangh Parivar’s designs, another felt that the Chief Minister was trying to cash in on the situation to strengthen the vote bank of the ruling combine ahead of elections. Patnaik may succeed in strengthening the alliance’s vote bank but what the BJD-BJP equations will be after the elections is anyone’s guess.

As of now Patnaik, his critics say, is going the Modi way with his eyes set on the elections.
Prafulla Das

Maoist hand?

WHO killed Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati? Confusion about the identity of the killers kept growing even as the Sangh Parivar’s demand for the arrest of the killers got shriller. What led to the confusion was Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s refusal to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Among the questions being asked were: Were the killers Maoists or a group of Maoists who supported a section of Christians who wanted to eliminate the swami because he was working to bring Christian converts back into the Hindu fold?

Were militant Christians, who were allegedly behind several attacks on the swami in the past few years, behind this attack too? Lakshmanananda had been attacked at least nine times before he was killed.

The modus operandi of the assailants, the use of sophisticated weapons and the brutal manner of the slayings point to the involvement of Maoists. Initially the police said they suspected the Maoists and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the swami had been killed by a group of extremists.

But after Sangh Parivar organisations claimed that militant Christians were responsible for the crime, the police became tight-lipped. Though a few persons were arrested, the police would only say that the investigation was in progress.

In fact, soon after the killing, a report in a newspaper said a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) called up the newspaper to claim that the organisation was behind the killing.

Later, a few media houses received letters saying that the CPI(Maoist) was not involved in the incident and that some of its cadre might have committed the crime by playing into others’ hands. However, a few days later, media reports said the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) issued a statement in New Delhi claiming responsibility for the murder.

Whatever the truth, a Maoist hand in the killing has not been ruled out because the swami was expanding his base in Malkangiri district where the left-wing extremists have a strong presence. The swami visited Malkangiri a few months ago to attend a function of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The presence of the Maoists was also felt in Kandhamal last year when members of the Christian community and extremists attacked Hindu families in Brahmanigaon village. The attack took place within a few days of the outbreak of communal violence following an attack on Lakshmanananda on December 24.

The attackers had used automatic weapons. Interestingly, Brahmanigaon remained peaceful during the current riots.

As regards the probe into the killing, sources in the ruling alliance said the government was not willing to hand it over to the CBI as it apprehended that the agency may be influenced by the Central government.

Whoever may be the culprits, many in the ruling alliance in the State would not want them to be arrested before the next Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Identification and arrest of the killers will deny the Sangh Parivar the chance of making it an issue in the polls in the tribal-dominated districts where the swami had a strong following.
Prafulla Das