Three Angles Too Acute

The incident took place on the evening of August 25. There were reports of violence—again attributed to VHP activists—from other parts of the state too. Churches were set on fire, buildings damaged and shops destroyed. The violence continued, with the official number of dead going up to 12 in two days.

Even when Jaiswal's visit to the troubled spot was being cancelled, no one knew what exactly was going on inside the cordoned-off and curfew-bound district, inaccessible to virtually everyone. The only thing all in Bhubaneshwar knew was that Kandhamal was burning. And more than why the administration hadn't been able to tamp it down, debate turned to what started the fire.

It all began with a murder. On August 23, a group of 30-odd masked gunmen forced themselves into the Jaleshpata Kanyashram, a Hindu ashram and residential school for tribal girls in Kandhamal. Their target: the ashram's 84-year-old head, Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Using automatic weapons, they pumped bullets into his body and, before disappearing into the darkness, gunned down four others. Three of them belonged to the ashram.

The swami's death sparked waves of anger, with Hindu organisations baying for the blood of the killers. The VHP was quick to brand it as an attack by Kandhamal's Christian community and wasted no time in launching a statewide backlash. "It's a purely religious murder," Gouri P. Rath, secretary of the state VHP, told Outlook. "The swami was loved by all...he had the ability to prevent people from being sucked into another religion. The Christians had a problem with this because their goal is conversion." Rath recalled that there had been previous attempts on the swami's life—the last before the fatal one was in December '07, when assailants pelted his car with stones, forcing his hospitalisation.

This week, on August 25, the Sangh parivar called an Orissa bandh. Reports came in of attacks on Christians, culminating in the torching of the woman. And that brought back memories of the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999.

This time around, as violence erupted in the aftermath of the swami's murder, the Orissa police declared the original crime was the handiwork of "the Maoists". Contacted a day later and incidentally after facing some criticism for touting this 'politically expedient' theory, DGP Gopal Nanda did not exactly backtrack, but declined to either reiterate or oppose the initial stance. "Everything, from the manner in which the murder was committed to the weaponry used, is being probed," was all he would say. Police had earlier suggested that the swami's murder was carried out using AK-47 guns, adding militants of the extreme Left are known to have access to such sophisticated weaponry.

A vehicle set on fire at a church in Nuagaon, also in Kandhamal district

But what could be the Maoists' motive for getting rid of Swami Lakshmanananda? Kandhamal is largely inhabited by the Khondos and the Panas. The former is a scheduled tribe and is more dominant and mostly Hindu. The Dalit Panas belong to the scheduled castes, and have a history of being oppressed by the Khondos who lorded over them. It is the Panas who drifted towards Christianity. The education and upliftment of the community courtesy the church is seen as a threat by the Khondos.

Those who know the area closely say Swami Lakshmanananda's growing power there and his attempts at reconversion of the Panas may not have gone down well with the Maoists, who have generally found it easier to enlist new recruits from the community. The swami was seen as anti-Church and anti-Naxal and his presence in the area may have been seen as a threat and an obstacle to the Maoist project of establishing a firm base.

But beyond such theories, there is no hard evidence to establish that the Church tied up with the Maoists to bump off the swami, as alleged by the VHP. In protest against the killings of Christians, Catholic churches kept several schools across the country closed on August 28. There is fear among the community, which expects further violence. Says church spokesman Father Dibya Paricha: "As of now, we are feeling very unprotected. Let them investigate and find out the truth behind the murder, but in the meantime make sure all citizens of the state feel protected."

The BJD-led state government is in a tight spot since it relies on the BJP to hold its coalition government together. The Sangh parivar wants it to pursue its line that a 'Church-Maoist' nexus is responsible for the swami's murder. The VHP even chided nine BJP ministers in the state for not quitting after the murder. The more moderate party members, like Biswabhusan Harichandan and deputy leader in the assembly Manmohan Samal, were non-committal, only to be criticised by the hardliners for "selling their souls to the CM".

One senior bureaucrat articulated the government's predicament to Outlook: "We are neither saying nor refuting that there is Christian involvement in the murder. The matter has been placed under investigation; it is too premature to say anything at this point in time. You can't expect any government to issue a public statement blaming any particular religious community. It amounts to asking for communal riots."

Right now the priority seems to be to cool tempers down and then to launch a probe. Police officials admit that it may not be easy to ascertain the motive behind the attack on the swami. Murders like these involving armed men often remain unsolved in these parts.