Is this Karnataka?

The Indian Express

There are times when the ability and willingness to call a spade a spade matter more than anything else. It is imperative for an elected Government to distinguish fact from speculation and act accordingly. Above all, it is mandated to protect the citizens it is responsible for. The attacks on churches across Karnataka would have been mitigated and even stopped had the B.S. Yeddyurappa government treated the issue first and foremost as a law and order problem. Of course, the CM has promised action and the maintenance of peace and harmony. Vacuous as those terms are, we all have a rough idea as to what they signify and why they are so vital to the continuance of civilised life. But the “iron hand” that the CM has promised hasn’t quite been manifest as policemen deployed couldn’t prevent the Bajrang Dal and VHP activists from running amok, targeting churches. It is an axiom that police personnel act when there is the political will.

Attacks on citizens abiding by the law of the land cannot be obfuscated by ideology and argument. And the government doesn’t have the luxury to waste time and words. There are wild people causing havoc and they must be stopped before they do more damage. But Yeddyurappa had initially chosen to preface his comments by stating that forced conversions are inappropriate. The CM doesn’t, and should not, hold any brief for a particular community. His job is to ensure that ordinary people attending a prayer meeting do not face violence of any kind. The government’s self-congratulatory message on concluding 100 days in office significantly failed to account for the attacks on Christians in Karnataka.

There may or may not be economic reasons behind the attacks. But we do not yet know enough about that. While Orissa’s (another state that has witnessed attacks against Christians recently) development story is usually ignored, Karnataka has been treated by the media as a great success. What is happening in the state now is a serious reversal of image, something that no constituent territory of the Indian Union can afford.

Is BJP pushing Hindutva in Karnataka?

The attacks on churches in three districts of Karnataka has Christians in the state alarmed and angry. They are convinced that the state government is not doing all it could to protect minorities.

“We suspect that this could be the BJP agenda to target the minorities, particularly the Christians because we are a very soft target, unlike others who may retaliate against them we know. We feel because of this we are being picked upon by these extremist Sangh Parivar elements under the patronage of the BJP as a whole,” said former DGP F T R Colaso.

Karnataka’s history of communal tension does predate this BJP government.(Watch)

Chikmagalur district, where churches were also attacked on Sunday sees heightened tension every December, when saffron outfits insist on taking out a procession to the Datta Peetha – also the site of a sufi shrine. This despite restrictions and a history of communal flare-ups here.

Churches have been attacked in the state before. Back in the year 2000 a series of blasts in churches was eventually laid at the door of the Deendar Anjuman. The Bajrang Dal is also believed to be part of attacks on churches in more recent years.

Coastal Karnataka – a BJP stronghold – has been communally sensitive for years now. And it is clear that the state government is taking at least as critical a view of reported forced conversions as they are of the attacks on churches.

“We oppose this deceitful conversion, especially books, literature, pamphlets decrying Hindu gods and all that has come to light today. One small section that indulges in this illegal conversion believes that by producing such literature they can do something. Action will be taken as under IPC it warrants action. But direct attack on these places was unwanted,” said Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya.

Now in power, the BJP has a direct interest in maintaining law and order in the state. And if this comes in conflict with the violent actions of other members of the Sangh Pariwar, the party will have to perform a tricky balancing act.(NDTV)

Rights body to probe anti-Christian violence in Orissa

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will send a team to Orissa to probe the recent violence against Christians that led thousands of them to flee their homes.

The panel’s move follows a petition submitted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, seeking protection from violence at the hands of Hindu radicals.

“The petition raises serious questions about human rights violations and therefore the panel has sought a report from Orissa’s chief secretary and DGP (Director General of Police) within two weeks,” an NHRC official said.

Orissa’s Kandhamal district was hit by communal violence after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four others were shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his Jalespata Ashram in the district Aug 23.

Though police said Maoist rebels could have killed the VHP leader, Hindu groups blamed the Christians for the murder and went on the rampage against them. Christian groups have repeatedly denied the allegation.

The state has witnessed targeted violence since Aug 23 in which thousands of Christians have been rendered homeless.

“Some organisations had pointed fingers at the Christian community for the murder, and targetted the community,” the petition said.

It alleged that despite the assurance of protection from the government, the Hindu radicals were moving about with lethal weapons threatening Christians.

The petitioners said that the “destructive activities of the fundamentalists” even in the presence of police were forcing Christians to flee their homes and take refuge in the forest or even leave Orissa. (Hindustantimes)

No let-up in Orissa, Karnataka violence

BHUBANESWAR: The faith-fuelled fire that erupted three weeks back continued to burn through tribal tracts of Orissa on Tuesday.

A policeman was fatally shot when a 500-strong mob of tribals stormed a police station in Gochhapada in a Naxal-style operation. The area is about 35 km from Phulbani, the headquarters of Kandhmal district, where scores of churches and prayer halls have been attacked and mobs have targeted Christians to vent their anger over conversions. ( Watch )

The latest hate fire was sparked off by the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati at his Jalespeta ashram three weeks back. The VHP leader had been in the forefront of opposing conversions and leading the campaign to re-convert those who had recently embraced Christianity to Hinduism.

Late Monday-Tuesday night, the tribal mob, which included women, burnt the police station and two vehicles and five motorcycles parked there. The tribals then proceeded to Balandapada, about 20 km from there, and torched the police outpost. At both places, they attacked other police establishments as well.

Anger among non-Christian tribals have been rising as police have arrested several from the community for attacking Christians and torching prayer halls in Kandhmal. DIG R P Koche said 26-year-old sepoy Bibhudendra Biswal was on night duty when the armed villagers launched the attack.

“We have deployed one company of CRPF in the area. Police action has been initiated, but there has been no arrest as yet,” the DIG said. This was the first police casualty reported in the state during the current phase of violence. On Saturday, one CRPF jawan had been shot during mob violence at Krutamgada, about 160 km from Phulbani, where three villagers had been killed in the police firing.

Police sources said that ahead of launching the attack on the police station, the tribal protesters had felled trees and blocked all roads leading to the area with huge logs. As they mounted the attack, most of the cops in the station fled. Biswal, who had recently joined the force, was on sentry duty but without a weapon. He, too, tried to flee when a bullet first hit him in the leg and then a second one in the head. Over 250 people have been arrested in Kandhmal district in connection with the communal violence. Night curfew is still on in several towns.

In Bhubaneswar, chief minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the worsening communal split at a high-level meeting attended among others by the chief secretary, home secretary and the director general of police. The government has decided to retain about 43 companies of CRPF in the state, including 26 companies in Kandhmal district alone, till October-end.

Knives were out in Mangalore as 10 people were stabbed on the city’s outskirts and fires stoked by religious fundamentalists continue to burn the bustling commercial city for the third consecutive day. All schools and colleges were shut, shops remained closed and roads were deserted as Sri Rama Sena forced a shutdown in the city to protest the stabbing of an activist on Monday evening.

Even as the police claimed that all the stabbing incidents were not related to violent attacks on churches, dozens of people were taken into custody by the police. Around 175 people have been arrested in the city so far, over 50 of them for attack on churches and the rest for clashes with Hindu groups and police on Monday.

The trouble started here a couple of days back as Hindu groups began to target churches and prayer halls for the alleged conversion activities of some Christian groups, particularly a sect called the New Life Fellowship. The attacks on minorities in Karnataka seems to be taking a serious turn as violence continues in Orissa and shows no signs of abetting.

On Tuesday, even as Karnataka home minister V S Acharya was in the city to discuss with government officials and community leaders the measures to contain the uninterrupted violence, the city was in the grip of fear and anxiety. (TOI)