PRESS NOTE
New Delhi, September 1, 2008
Citizen's Delegation meets President Pratibha Patil; Demands that
Indian Government use Article 355 to force Orissa administration to
protect Christians
Violence continues even now, President is told by delegation led by
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Maulana Mahmood Madani, MP, and Orissa
Archbishop Cheenath.
300 villages burnt, 4,014 houses destroyed, 50,000 Christians hiding
in Forests in a week
A Citizens Delegation met President Pratibha Patil on Monday morning
calling upon her to enforce Article 355 of the Constitution of India
on Orissa so that the Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik administration
takes adequate measures to protect Christians in the state from
Hindutva violence..
The best legal opinion available to the delegation held that while
Article 356 calls for imposition of President's rule when New Delhi
takes over reins of power, Article 355 reminds both New Delhi and
state governments of their duties to protect States against internal
disturbance and should be brought into force now.
The delegation reminded the President that the violence that has
continued against Christians in Orissa from 23rd August till today
justifies the use of this Article. The violence far exceeds that of
Christians 2007, the delegation told the President, reminding her that
she had a big role to play at this juncture..
In fact, violence has spilled out of Orissa into neighbouring Madhya
Pradesh. In Orissa, It is not confined to Kandhamal but has affected
other districts. In Kandhamal, fifty thousand people are hiding in
forests or are in a few refugee camps, hiding from murderous gangs
seeking to kill them or convert them to Hinduism, Over 4,000 houses
have been completely destroyed apart from now close to a hundred small
and big churches which have been torched.
The Citizen's delegation, the first such to meet the President, was
led by film maker Mahesh Bhatt and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind President
Maulana Mahmood Madani, MP, National Integration Council member Dr
John Dayal, Orissa Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Delhi Archbishop
Vincent Concessao, Maharashtra Government State Minorities Commission
vice chairman Dr Abraham Mathai, Jamiat leader Mohd Faruqi, Al India
Christian Council regional secretary Rev Madhu Chandra, Delhi Catholic
Archdiocese Federation President Adv Jenis Francis and Mumbai's
Catholic Social Forum secretary general Joseph Dias were the other
members.
The President gave the delegation a patient hearing and said she would
have their demand for Article 355 examined. She said the government
had briefed her on steps, which had already been taken. Mr. Bhatt told
the President that the State government was in a coma; its police
totally complicit in the violence and the Sangh Parivar was running
havoc.
Maulana Madani said it was a matter of security of India's minorities.
It was India's concern for its minorities that had brought it respect
internationally, and it was the object of deep concern globally.
Archbishop Cheenath, Dr John Dayal and Dr Mathai briefed the President
in detail about the Sangh violence in the state which has continued
after the murder of the VHP vice President Lakshmanananda Saraswati.
Following are excerpts from the Memorandum
Citizen's Memorandum to the President of India
September 1, 2008
Shrimati Pratibha Patil
The President of India
Your Excellency,
You are aware of the still continuing carnage against the Christian
community, mostly Dalits and Tribals, in the Kandhamal district of
Orissa and in several other districts including the state capital of
Bhubaneswar since 23rd August 2003 following the killing of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, reportedly by
Maoist groups who have been operating in the state for some time. The
violence has now spread to some other states, especially Madhya
Pradesh.
Nine months after attacks in Kandhamal District on Christians of
Dalit, Hill peoples and Tribal ethnicity celebrating the birth of
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are deeply saddened by a repeat
of the violence in the month of India's Independence. The Christmas
2007 attacks claimed the lives of at least four Christians, and we
verified the destruction of at least 105 churches and 730 Christian
homes. The current spate of violence will exceed these totals as it
continues to spread into other districts. Our estimate from Ground
Zero is of close to two dozen people dead, one a Hindu girl burnt to
death working for a Christian orphanage, a Nun has been gang raped,
religious men and women personnel humiliated, beaten, tortured, some
close to death, while policemen have looked on, or have been absent.
We appeal for the restoration of law and order. But the root cause
must also be addressed.
We, the secular civil society community, perceive that the great
nation of India is at a tipping point. The groups, which favour a
"Hindu Rashtra", have made Orissa their laboratory, as they earlier
did Gujarat. The so-called saffronisation of the state has been the
subject of well-documented academic and socio-political studies.
We entreat you, as President of the Republic, to enforce the rule of
law upon Sangh Parivar organisations which blatantly flaunt their
divisive agenda. Specifically, we call upon you to bring the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and Bajrang Dal under the
rule of law.
As Orissa authorities have repeatedly said there was ample
circumstantial evidence of Maoist involvement in the killing of VHP
leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others on August 23rd.
Additionally, someone who identified himself as Azad, a leader of
Maoist outfit, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army claim responsibility
for the killing as Times of India carries the news on August 30
referring to an interview with a leading Oriya daily on August 29.1
Yet Praveen Togadia, VHP general secretary, told an international
journalist on August 27, "It is clear that the church killed the
Swami."2 Gouri Prasad Rath, Orissa state VHP secretary, said, "This
attack is the handiwork of the Christians."3 Subhash Chavan, national
co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, said, "The police are trying to hide
the truth by blaming the Maoists."4 An unnamed RSS spokesperson said,
"This is an attack by the agents of Christian missionaries, whose
attempts at forcible conversions the Swamiji countered."5 RSS
spokesperson Ram Madhav told CNN IBN on Tuesday night6 that Christians
were behind the murders. Perhaps based on a media report7, Madhav The
final word lay with RSS supreme Kupahalli Sudershan who in a Press
Statement faxed to the Media called the late VHP vice President a
martyr for "stopping Christians from carrying on coversions."
These types of irresponsible statements must be met with the full
force of the law. They are all culpable for penal action under IPC
295A for the crime of creating enmity between communities and
religions. This would benefit not only Orissa, but the nation.
We sincerely wish Swami Saraswati was not murdered and he still might
be alive if the state government had followed the recommendations of
the National Commission for Minorities. The NCM urged the authorities
to examine the speeches of Swami Lakshmanananda to determine whether
they amount to incitement to violence.8 9 We are confident that, if
this had been done, the swami would have been jailed and protected
from coming to any harm.
Your Excellency, the violence in Orissa continues without adequate
police forces to stop mobs which break curfew and harm innocent
civilians, chasing our fellow countrymen and women like animals in the
forests where they have taken refuge since August 24. Today the
irresponsible leaders of hardliner Hindu nationalist groups are
damaging our great democracy and secularism of the nation.
We request you to order the Union Government and the State
Administration to take legal action against the irresponsible
organisations which called the bundh on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 and have
passively watched their members wreak havoc. They must, of course,
fully investigate the murder of the VHP vice President.
This is to request you to use your powers as President of India, and
the tremendous force of your good offices, to impress on the Central
Government to rush adequate Union forces, including contingents of the
Armed Forces if required, to restore law and order and governance in
the Kandhamal region.
The consequences of any further delay, we the secular civil society
fear, may be catastrophic for the small Christian community in the
State in particular, for peace in Orissa in general, and for the fair
name of India as a secular country.
----------1 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Maoists_claim_Orissa_killing/articleshow/3423908.cms
2 "Indian state erupts in violence after Hindu shot", by Saeed Ahmed,
CNN, Aug. 27, 2008.
3 "Orissa on edge, VHP scoffs at Maoist theory", see above
4 "Orissa tragedy takes a backseat, hunt starts for scapegoat", by
Soumyajit Pattnaik, Hindustan Times, Aug. 25,
2008.
5 "Orissa: Bandh-related violence claims 9," by Krishnakumar P.,
Rediff.com, Aug. 26, 2008.
6 "Blind Faith? Fragile Peace Blown to Bits", CNN-IBN debate, Aug. 26,
2008, 10 p.m. IST.
7 "Widespread anger in Kandhamal", The Pioneer, Aug. 25, 2008.
8 "This mischievous [VHP & Sangh Parivar anti-conversion] campaign has
created an atmosphere of prejudice
and suspicion against the Christian community and Christian priests
and organizations. The role of the Sangh
Parivar activists and the anti-conversion campaign in fomenting
organized violence against the Christian Community deserves close
scrutiny." From "Report of the NCM visit to Orissa, 6-8 January 2008",
http://ncm.nic.in/pdf/orissa%20report.pdf.
9 "The recommendation made by the NCM team that visited Orissa in
January, 2008 that the State Government
must look into the speeches of Swami Lakshmanananda to determine
whether they amount to incitement to
violence does not appear to have been acted upon." From "Report on the
Visit of the Vice Chairperson, NCM to
Orissa, 21-24 April 2008", http://ncm.nic.in/pdf/VC%20Tour%20Report%20of%20Orissa.pdf.
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