Author: Dr. Shreerang Godbole
Publication: HinduJagruti.org
Date: August 30, 2008
URL: http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/5301.html
The gruesome murder of 84-year old Swami Laxmanananda
in Kandhamal, Orissa, has exposed the ease with which evangelical groups can
access guns, grenades, and other murderous weapons in the pursuit of their
agenda to impose their own religion by annihilating local faiths and cultures
everywhere.
No one takes seriously the administration
claim that the murder is the handiwork of Maoists. It is another matter that
in Kandhamal there is little to differentiate Christians and Maoists - the
cadres reputedly overlap, and both share the common goal of uprooting Hindu
dharma. Indian media followed the Western media in raising a hue and cry over
the murder of evangelist Graham Staines, but did not show the same respect
to the octogenarian Swami who devoted his life to the welfare of the most
downtrodden tribal communities.
The media gave space to the asinine remarks
of Australian evangelist Gladys Staines, who has no locus standi to comment
on the internal affairs of India , and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quick
to give audience to well-organised Christian leaders after the Bishop of Rome
expressed displeasure over native Hindu reaction to grave provocation. The
Italian origin and Roman Catholic faith of Congress party president Sonia
Gandhi cannot be overlooked in this context - it constitutes a sub-text to
the Christian vociferousness, which seeks to drown out the fact that the Krishna
Janmasthami murders in the ashram premises was an exceedingly well-organised
and premeditated crime.
The tremendous and spontaneous Hindu reaction
- paralleling the upsurge over the Amarnath yatra land issue in Jammu - has
taken the nation by surprise. But the root causes of the Orissa unrest have
been completely glossed over by the media.
Kandhamal is part of the erstwhile undivided
district of Phulbani; it was carved into a separate district on 1 April 1994.
It derives its name from the Kandh (Kondha) tribes who dominate the area,
comprising approximately 51.96% of the 6.5 lakh population of the district.
Kandhs are Hindus and enjoy Scheduled Tribe status.
The other community with a significant local
presence is the Panas, a Scheduled Caste, who constitute about 16.89% of the
district population. The Panas are overwhelmingly Christian and are educationally,
economically and politically more advanced. They were the prime targets of
the pioneering Christian missionaries who settled in Katingia village of Daringibadi
block of Kandhamal in 1883. The Kandh tribe led by Chakara Bisoi, Dohara Bisoi,
Dina Kondh and Lochana Kondh valiantly fought the British in 1857, and it
was only in 1884 that the British finally managed to subdue this region with
the help of converted Panas from present-day Ganjam and Nayagarh districts
bordering Kandhamal.
Through untiring efforts spanning four decades, Swamiji succeeded in awakening
the Kandhs. This in turn posed a major threat to the political and economic
hegemony of the Church. The converted Panas are highly placed in Government
and politics. Rajya Sabha MP Radha Kant Nayak is a converted Pana and a blue-eyed
boy of the Congress president. He doubles up as chief of the local chapter
of World Vision, a highly energetic Christian outfit. Nayak is also connected
with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He uses his MP's fund to
distribute largesse to converted Panas through his own NGO called 'Nishwas'.
His alleged role in the murderous attack on Swami Laxmanananda on 24 December
2007 has not been probed to the satisfaction of the local populace.
Christian bureaucrats like Issac Behera and
retired IPS officer John Nayak, Lok Sabha MP Sugrib Singh, and former Steel
and Mines Minister Padmanabh Behera are other heavyweights who are hand-in-glove
with missionaries. The Church reportedly gets massive funds from USA , Italy
, Australia and several European countries, and Swami Laxmanananda's demand
for an enquiry into the quantum of foreign funds flowing into the region and
their utilization should in the fitness of things be accorded the status of
the last testament.
There is a long-standing dispute between converted
Panas and Hindu Kandh tribals. Under the law, Panas cannot own forest land
as they are not Scheduled Tribes. Throwing legality to the winds, several
converted Panas have illegally grabbed forest land. Kandhs who have been rendered
landless are forced to work as farm labourers on lands illegally occupied
by Panas. Seething discontent over this state of affairs first manifested
in the 1994 Kandh-Pana clashes that left 50 persons dead.
Despite a High Court order to evict encroached land, Christians continue to
illegally occupy the land. Being Scheduled Castes, Panas are legally not allowed
reservation benefits after conversion. One way they get around this law is
by concealing their conversion. Radha Kant Nayak, a 1962 batch IAS officer,
is widely reputed to have gained entry into the IAS through Scheduled Caste
quota by fraudulently concealing his convert status. The growing clamour for
public scrutiny of such cases is said to be behind the setting up of the Justice
Ranganath Mishra Commission, which expectedly recommended reservation benefits
for all SC converts.
Another way to beat this law is by securing
Scheduled Tribe status. This will enable Panas to enjoy reservation even after
conversion, as an oversight in the Constitution did not deprive ST converts
of reservation rights. Naturally, Church-inspired organizations such as the
Phulbani Kui Jana Kalyan Sangh are clamouring for Scheduled Tribe status for
Panas.
Moreover, the delimitation of constituencies has resulted in the reservation
of the lone Lok Sabha and all Vidhan Sabha Assembly segments for Scheduled
Tribes. The posts of President of the Zilla Parishad, Block Chairmen and majority
of elected Zilla Parishad members and posts in Panchayati Raj institutions
have also been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The flip side of this is a loss
of political and social relevance for the Christian Panas and the Church.
Hence the sense of urgency in the demand for Scheduled Tribe status for Christian
Panas.
The Kandhs speak the Kui dialect, which is
also known to the majority of Panas. Disregarding the fact that 'Kui' is a
dialect, not a community, Panas are falsely claiming to be Kuis and demanding
ST status!
In 1981, the J.B. Patnaik government bowed to the Christian lobby and recommended
that Kuis be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The Christian lobby
won a major victory in 2002 when a Presidential order included Kuis in the
list of STs. The Phulbani Kui Jana Kalyan Sangh promptly filed a writ petition
in the High Court claiming that in Kandhamal district, Kuis were wrongly listed
as a Scheduled Caste instead of Scheduled Tribe in land revenue records and
consequently deprived of Constitutional concessions granted to STs.
Finally, the High Court asked the State Government to take a decision in the
matter. Mercifully, the State Government submitted that as the Record of Rights
of the Panas did not mention them as a Scheduled Tribe, their demand could
not be met. The Orissa Government has consistently maintained that "this
demand is not based on historical and anthropological facts."
Kandh organizations such as Phulbani Kui Seva
Samiti, Nikhil Utkal Kui Samaj, Kui Kul Samiti and Kui Sanskritik Parishad
are struggling to stave off the Pana demand for Scheduled Tribe status. They
have formed an umbrella organization called Kui Samanvaya Samiti to safeguard
the rights of Kandhs.
More than anyone else, Swami Laxmanananda was a symbol of Kandh hopes and
aspirations. The missionaries knew that the resurgent Kandh Hindus could force
them to close shop. With Swamiji out of the way, the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar,
Msgr. Raphael Cheenath could afford to indulge in some bluster. Speaking after
Swamiji's murder, Cheenath bragged that the roots of the Church in these parts
were deep and that the Church would continue to provide light for generations
to come.
In Jammu , Hindus have risen in the defence
of Dharma, throwing up new leaders in the process. Orissa - land of Jagannath
, Lingaraja, Kalinga-Jina - cannot lag behind. It owes this much to Swamiji.
- Dr. Godbole is a Pune-based endocrinologist,
social activist and author. He has contributed in making www.savarkar.org
