Another "peaceful" religion shows its true color

A religion that vouches for peace and love showed its true color recently in Orissa. They attacked a VHP activist for working on anti-conversion. Of course the attack didn't get any media attention at all. When the Hindus retaliated against the attack it has caught the attention of media. And all the media reported it as attack on christians completely ignoring the christians deed.

Clashes between Hindus-Christians

BHUBANESHWAR: Clashes between Hindus and Christians continued in the Phulbani tribal district of Orissa on the third consecutive day on Wednesday with a church being attacked and a youth killed despite an indefinite curfew in four sensitive areas, including the district headquarters.

The attack on the church was in retaliation to an assault on Swami Laxmananda Saraswati of the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) near Daringbadi.

Police said hundreds of tribals attacked the church at Sarsalanda village under Sadar police station, about 20 km from Phulbani town.

Raphel Cheenath, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, claimed Hindu fundamentalists had already torched over 40 churches, forcing Christians to flee to the jungles.

Christian bodies have now approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for protection. Sources say they have even submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister. “One lakh Christians are living in fear,” said Raphel.

“Churches in Baliguda, Pobingia, Baminigam, Bodagaon, Kamapada, Mandipanka, Jhinjiriguda, Uipadaro, Gobarkuttak and Kulpakia have been attacked. Some of them torched,” he claimed.

Miscreants also torched the vehicle of state steel and mines minister Padamanabha Behera, who belongs to area.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of the situation at the state secretariat on Wednesday and deputed two senior IAS officers for spot assessment of the situation. He also appealed to the people to maintain peace.

The Orissa government has deployed 27 police platoons and three companies of CRPF in Phulbani. The police are, however, finding it difficult to enter the troubled areas as VHP supporters have blocked roads with logs.

“The roads are still blocked and police are trying to reach Sarsalanda. The state government has sent paramilitary forces and an additional police force to the region to control the situation. They are on their way,” district police chief Narasimha Bhol said.

The violence erupted when on December 9 Swami Laxmananda learnt that Christian organisations were allegedly planning to convert a few tribals on Christmas day. He held talks with the Ambedkar Banika Sangha (Ambedkar Businessmen Organisation) and pleaded that the plan be dropped. On Christmas eve, however, the Swami understood that the proposed conversion was still on. He started for the site but was attacked on way. Though the Swami escaped unhurt, his body guard was grievously injured. In protest, the VHP called for a four-hour Orissa bandh on Tuesday.

The bandh coincided with another 36-hour bandh called by Kui Samaj Sammanwaya Samiti, a tribal outfit, to demand scheduled tribe status for Dalit Christians. Locals are opposed to this demand and the clash of interest sparked violence. One person was killed and several injured in immediate violence.

Meanwhile, the blame game has begun with Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, a frontal organisation of the RSS, blaming Congress Rajya Sabha member and World Vision chief Radhakanta Nayak for the violence and demanding immediate action against him. The outfit alleged on Wednesday that Nayak is the main conspirator of the attack on Swami Laxmananda Saraswati.