Orissa Bishops ask Government to Rebuild Churches Destroyed by Terrorists

In their letter the bishops said that hatred against Christians is motivated by religion and that any explanation based on "social" factors is false.

BHUBANESHWAR (AsiaNews) - The bishops of three Orissa dioceses have sent a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in which they denounce the pervasive reign of terror that hangs over Christians who have been attacked by radical Hindu groups for months. In order to stop the Christian exodus from the state--many Christians have moved to neighbouring states--the bishops urge the authorities to act quickly to rebuild churches before Christmas.

In fact and this despite government reassurances that things have calmed down, local clergymen are reporting that members of their congregations are still unable to go back home for fear of death or re-conversion to Hinduism. They point out that aid pledged by the authorities for the reconstruction of villages and churches has not yet arrived and that Christians are still scared to harvest their fields and so are bound to lose their livelihood.

Mgr Thomas Thiruthalil, chairman of the Orissa Bishops' Regional Council, met Naveen Patnaik yesterday. He was accompanied by Mgr Raphael Cheenath, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Mgr Sarat Nayak of Berhampur and other Christian leaders, including Asit Mohanty, of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

Speaking to AsiaNews, Monsignor Thiruthalil, who is bishop of Balasore, said that during the meeting the "chief minister was cordial and responded positively to us," assuring "us of [his] cooperation to work together to establish normalcy in Kandhamal," the area hardest-hit by Hindu attacks.

"The situation [in Orissa] is precarious," the bishop explained. "People are afraid and the fear of violence looms large; moreover, people are terrified of forced conversion to Hinduism [. . .]. Our priests are slowly returning to their parishes (or what is left of them), but they too are stalked by fear. They are prime targets for elimination or re-conversion by Hindu fundamentalists and their parents and families have often been compelled to return to Hinduism, forced to shave their heads and drink water mixed with cow dung and urine and perform Hindu chants. Even if people take comfort in the presence of their priest, they are still traumatised by their experience and by the suffering they have had to endure."

In order to rebuild a sense of normalcy, the bishops have called on the Orissa state government to rebuild the 180 or so churches that were destroyed, ideally before Christmas this year.

Bishop Thiruthalil explained that until recently Christians and Hindus lived in peace with one another in Kandhamal district.

"Kandhamal was a place of religious tolerance and mutual cooperation. People helped each other working in the fields, sowing and harvesting crops; Hindus and Christians even celebrated religious festivals together. Regrettably, fundamentalists sowed hatred and suspicion in the minds of Hindus who then turned against the Christians."

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In their letter the bishops said that hatred against Christians is motivated by religion and that any explanation based on "social" factors is false. Arguments like this have been advanced by some people in the state who claim that anti-Christian persecution is due to Christians enriching themselves in the face of an increasingly poor Tribal population. For them this is patently untrue. In fact poor Tribals have been killed in the pogrom as much as anyone else simply because they were Christian. The purpose of the violence was to stop conversions to Christianity.

What is more local clergymen suspect that the attacks were politically motivated, carried out to boost Hindu nationalism (at the expense of Christians) and bolster opposition parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as they prepare themselves for the next election scheduled to take place on 9 April 2009.

For this reason the bishops want the army's special forces sent in by the central government to stay in Orissa at least until after the elections.

In their letter to the chief minister, the bishops also slam the collusion between fundamentalists and local police forces who more often than not have refused to register complaints filed by Christians