India: Dramatic Plight of Catholics in the State of Orissa

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, of the Catholic diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar in India, granted an exclusive interview to Church in Asia, on the occasion of his visit to Paris in the month of March. The archbishop had been invited by Help to the Church in Need to the “Night of Witnesses” organized on March 24 in the Church of Saint Sulpice, in homage to the Catholic missionaries murdered in 2008.

In the district of Kandhamal (State of Orissa), the center of anti-Christian violence since the month of August 2008, the situation is calm again today. But these are deceiving appearances, warned Archbishop Cheenath: “Christians fear to go back home because they do not want to be subject to blackmail on the part of the Hindus, who promise to give them back their properties if they convert to Hinduism.” In the camps for displaced people, set up by the government, the Christians do not feel any more secure. The authorities wish to close the camps  and bring strong pressure to bear upon the refugees so that they agree to go back home. On the other hand, no culprit having been brought before the tribunals, Christians fear to live again next to their former persecutors. If some Hindu extremists had been  arrested, they were quickly set at liberty, the archbishop stated.

Persecuted Catholics

“Today, Christians in Kandhamal have nothing more to expect from a material point of view. Some have lost dear ones. They have seen their houses set on fire, their belongings plundered, destroyed or stolen, and their lands are henceforth taken away by others,” Archbishop Cheenath, who sees in this, ironically enough, a refutation of the theses of the Hindu religion. “These Christians have lost everything, and, if they accept to ‘convert’ to Hinduism, Hindus promise that they will recover their goods, their lands, and that they will no longer be harassed. Now, Christians refuse such a bargain, they remain true to their Christian Faith. This is proof enough that they did not become Christians for the sake of improving their material conditions,” the archbishop went on, and he added that he was sure that 99% of the Christians who accepted to “be re-converted” to Hinduism will return to the Christian Faith as soon as the pressures made to bear upon them will cease.

Asked about the conditions which would make a return to a normal situation in Kandhamal, the archbishop said: “When governments are weak, prospects are gloomy.” The persecutions against religious minorities in India respond to the mottos and political program of the Sangh Parivar, the organization at the heart of Hindu circles. As soon as the federal government in Delhi, and the local government of a State show themselves weak, Hindus take action,” he added.

Archbishop Cheenath had  pointed out that, on the occasion of the preceding partial or municipal elections in the State of Orissa, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Party of the Indian People), the political showcase of Hindu nationalists, had met with serious defeats to the benefit of secular parties. On the eve of the legislative elections, he added, the coalition between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a regional party of secular inspiration, which was supporting the government in power in Orissa, had gone to pieces.

The Role of the Maoists

Concerning the activity of the Maoists in Orissa, the archbishop was keen to re-affirm that Catholics have no link with this movement of rebellion. Maoists posted a list of fourteen persons whom they held responsible for the anti-Christian attacks of these past months, and have promised to kill them. Two of them had already been murdered — one of them on March 19, by a Maoist commando of some 15 people. Archbishop Cheenath condemned such actions and underlined that they are possible only because of weak government and justice. Thus Prabhat Panigrahi, local leader of the Rashtriya Swayamesevak Sangh (RSS) an extremist branch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Party of the Indian People) who fell under Maoist gunshots, on March 19, had indeed been arrested because of his responsibility in anti-Christian attacks, but he had been set free on March 14 without trial.

On June 1st, the federal government announced that the paramilitary forces deployed in the district of Kandhamal were to be withdrawn from the area within the next thirty days. The federal Forces, and the Central Reserve forces  had been sent since August 24, 2008, to put an end to the anti-Christian violence two weeks after they had begun. “The situation remains very tense, and a withdrawal of the federal forces will only spread panic among the populations, declared Fr. Ajay Singh, director of social action in the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. Several thousand  people are still living in camps for displaced people,” he explained to the Agency Churches in Asia, and they are loathed to go back to their village lest they be attacked again. And he quoted the attack on May 31 in the vicinity of Raika by Hindu extremists against 5 houses belonging to Christians, burning down 3 of them.  “In such a context, the withdrawal of federal forces is not a good decision, and Christians cannot trust local police forces who gave proof of their partiality,” Fr. Singh concluded. According to the local press, the governor of the State of Orissa has asked the Minister of the Home Office to leave in his state a thousand men from the Central Reserve Police Forces.

The general elections began on April 16. Fides news agency gave a report of the first ballot which must renew the lower Chamber of the Indian Parliament only on April 20. Only 54% of the citizens of the district of Kandhamal, in Orissa, were able to vote. The local Church made known that the 3,000 to 50,000 refugees still present in the camps organized and managed by the government were given the right to vote. The Catholic hierarchy had addressed itself to the authorities of the State, to request that the legislative vote be delayed, especially in the district of Kandhamal, but without  receiving an answer. The vote took place in this area without any noteworthy incidence and without violence, but Hindu militants sent death threats to Christians,  giving them command to vote for the nationalist Hindu Party the Baratiya Janata Party. Many of those who ran the risk of voting despite the threat,  were sent away under the pretext that “their papers were not in order,” reported Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), an organization representing Christian minorities in India. Religious were subjected to the same pressures.   Out of the whole community of the Missionaries of Charity in Sukananda (Kandhamal), only two sisters were able to go with a valid voting card.

On April 14, the Naxalite Maoist (from the name of the village of Naxalbari, in the State of Western Bengali,  in which the first armed actions by an organization called the Group of Warriors for the People took place). This group, the armed branch of the Communist party in India, attacked a mine of  bauxite in Orissa, then on April 15, they carried out several simultaneous attacks in Jharkhand, Biha and Chhattisgarh, which caused some twenty casualties, specified the agency Churches in Asia, in a communiqué on April 23. On April 22, the group of rebels took 300 passengers in a train in Jharkhand as hostages (they were released a few hours later), and attacked a convoy of trucks, causing one death. In some States, Maoists who called for the boycott of the elections, have kidnapped voting officials and threatened to cut off the hands of voters.

Legislative Elections Put Hindu Extremists in Minority

The second ballot opened on April 23 in the States of Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. The electors in Orissa had to elect 21 parliament members for the Lower Chamber of the Indian Union as well as their representatives at the Parliament of the State, while confronted with the double threat from the Hindu extremists and the Naxalite rebels. Manmohan Sing, India’s Prime minister, considers today that Naxalite Maoists are the “greatest threat to national security.” Security measures were reinforced in the center and the east of the country, where the rebels are more active, after the deadly attempts which took place during the first part of the Indian legislative election. This area, called the “red corridor” includes States among the poorest of the Indian Union: Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Maharasthra, and Andhra Pradesh. Orissa deployed almost 6,000 men belonging to paramilitary organizations in the sensitive areas to prevent  possible attacks. The murder of Prabhat Panigrahi, on this past March 19, fueled anti-Christian hostility again.

Archbishop Cheenath affirmed that: “the unstated program of the members of the BJP (Party of the Indian People) is to drive Christians out of Kandhamal, which is the district of Orissa in which most of them live […]. This is what they clearly attempted to do before the elections, and if they win again, there is no doubt that they will continue in the same direction.”

May 16 had been appointed for the count of the results. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, only won 160 seats out of the 543 which the Lok Sabha, the federal Parliament, numbers. With 262 elected, the Congress Party and its allies are only 10 seats short of the absolute majority in the Assembly, and it will not be difficult for the party of Sonia Gandhi to gather a stable majority. The defeat of the BJP as well as of the Communists of the Third Front, 79 members of parliament, should leave greater freedom to the Congress Party to lead the country. The outgoing Chamber  governed with the support of the Communists  had to delay  some reforms with which its allies disagreed Hence, it will be held as the only one responsible if religious violence occurs without being immediately punished. Likewise, in a context of worldwide economic crisis, fight against poverty will be one of the most important priorities of the team led by Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister who was re-elected.

On Saturday, May 16, a few hours after the results had been announced, the Catholic Bishops Conference  of India (CBCI), in a press release declared itself “satisfied” with “the good choice” of Indian electors who gave a quasi majority to the United Progressive Alliance, the formation led by the Congress Party. The bishops announced that they trusted the new government to keep the promise made during the electoral campaign of preserving the country from any sectarian deviation and to bring back serenity within the population, and most particularly among religious minorities. The Catholic bishops recalled that Christians in India had always supported political parties which labored for the well-being of the poor and the oppressed and that, before the elections, they had called to elect representatives in favor of a government which would defend the secular principles of the country. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, spoke of a victory of religious liberty and said he was proud of his country.

In the State of Orissa, the Biju Janata Dal was victorious in the elections after distancing itself from the Party of the Indian People (Bharatiya Janata Party) which obtained only one seat for Orissa in the People’s Chamber in New Delhi. Henceforth having the majority in the Parliament of Orissa, the Biju Janata Dal will know how to show its concern for the safety of minorities, Fr. Joseph Kalathil, General Vicar for the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar wants to believe. Fr. Mritunjay Diggal, the archbishop’s secretary, specified that the government of the State had affirmed to the leaders of the Catholic Church that the safety of Christians will be ensured. He added that it belonged to the local government to see to it that the local police give “priority to the responsibility for public order and the defense of people.”

The Pope’s anxiety

This year, Benedict XVI entrusted Archbishop Thomas Menamprampil, of Guwahati (Assam, India) aged 72, the task of writing the meditations for the Stations of the Cross in the Coliseum on Good Friday. In union with the Christians persecuted in the world, and particularly in Orissa, Archbishop Menamparampil implored: “May the harassments that believers undergo complete in them the sufferings of Christ that bring salvation.”

In the morning of May 29, Benedict XVI granted private audience to several ambassadors near the Holy See who had come to present their accreditation letters. In a message handed to Chitra Narayanan, the diplomat representing India, the Holy Father had written: “I express my deep anxiety for the Christians who have suffered during the outbursts of violence in some areas within your frontiers” and he “appealed to all to show proof of respect toward human dignity by rejecting hatred and renouncing violence under any form.” Benedict XVI mentioned the recent legislative elections, expressing the wish that the newly elected MPs — and among them the head of the government Manmohan Singh — “be ready to overcome particular interests, taking the wider viewpoint of the common good which is an essential and indispensable objective of political authority.”

In his new cabinet, Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh has appointed ten untouchable members versus seven in the previous government. From six, the number of ministers of Muslim religion went down to five (Muslims make up 13% of the population of India); Christians, who represent less than 2.3% of the Indian population, number three ministers: Orthodox K.V. Thomas, age 63, Protestant Vincent Pala, 41 years old, and a young Catholic Lady, Agatha Sangma, age 28. The minister of  Defense is A. K. Antony, from the State of Kerala, born in a Christian family he now claims to be an atheist. With five other ministers he refused to take the oath “in the name of God” as it is customary in New Delhi. (Sources: apic/imedia/eda/fides/vatican.va)