The 2008 Kandhamal violence was the violence against Christians incited by Hindutva organisations in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, India, in August 2008 after the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati, a leader of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, a right-wing Hindutva group. According to government reports the violence resulted in at least 39 Christians killed. Reports indicate that more than 395 churches were razed or torched, between 5,600 and 6,500 houses plundered or burnt down, over 600 villages ransacked and more than 60,000 – 75,000 people left homeless. Other reports put the death toll at nearly 100 and suggested more than 40 women were sexually assaulted. Unofficial reports placed the number of those killed at more than 500. Many Christian families were burnt alive. Thousands of Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism under threat of violence. Many Hindu families were also assaulted in some places because they supported the Indian National Congress (INC). This violence was led by Hindutva paramilitary organisations, those being the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the Vishva Hindu Parishad.
Tensions reportedly started with violent incidents over Christmas 2007 which resulted in the burning of over 100 churches and church institutions, including hostels, convents, and over 700 houses. Three persons were also killed during the three days after Christmas. The Hindutva groups and activists of the Kui Samaj were mostly involved in the 2007 attacks. Following the riots, 20,000 people were sheltered in 14 government established relief camps and 50,000 people fled to the surrounding districts and states. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that by March 2009, at least 3,000 individuals were still in government relief camps.
Manoj Pradhan, an MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party was convicted in the violence in 2010. 18 people were also convicted in the same year. Seven Christians and a Maoist leader were convicted for the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati on 2013.
Background Hateful anti-Christian campaigns in Kandhamal had already begun in the late 1960s, and continued for a long time, creating violence against minorities at frequent intervals including the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Kandha–Pana tensions The Kandhamal district houses more than 100,000 Christians, 60% of them converts from the Scheduled Castes (SC) who are locally called Pana Christians (Pana). They speak Kui language, like tribal Kondhs or Kandhas. The district has been ethnically divided for decades between the tribal Kui-speaking Kandha tribals, and lower caste Kui-speaking Panas, who occupy a dominant position in their society. The Kui Samaj or the Kui association claimed to represent all the Kandha tribals, who were nearly 52% of the population in the district
The tribal Khonds historically followed animism before they converted to Hinduism. The tribal Panas, too, followed animism before their conversion to Christianity by Christian missionaries.
According to the Constitution, reservation benefits are removed from SCs who convert, and the Pana Christians demanded Scheduled tribe (ST) status after the Presidential Order of 2002 which mentioned the Kui tribes in the ST category since they also speak the Kui language. This was opposed by the VHP, the Kui Samaj and other political leaders who depend on Hindu tribals to support their vote bank in the area. These tensions soon transformed into communal violence.
The Kui Samaj called for a shutdown on December 25, 2007, to protest against allowing ST caste status to SC Pana Christians. With the shutdowns on Christmas Day, Christians, Christian institutions and Churches were targeted by activists belonging to the Kui Samaj and the VHP. Christians were killed and churches were burnt and damaged in the violence. It slowly calmed down till the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda, which created a massacre during August 2008. The National Commission for minorities reported that the tensions between the Kandha and the Pana tribals were partly responsible for the agitation and violence.
Sangh Parivar A senior Home Department official said that the present struggle between the mostly Christian-Dalit Panas and the Kandh tribe, mostly pro-Hindus, was the outcome of the ethnic, social and religious divide that helped Maoists to set up their base. While over 1200 churches and 400 Christian institutions became an eyesore for Hindutava forces, conversion was also a strong issue that had helped Sangh Parivar to strengthen its roots in Odisha.
American political scientist Paul Brass argued that the generally insignificant, local communal conflicts in India are made into larger communal violence by groups he terms as 'conversion specialists'. In his book Constructing Indian Christianities: Culture, Conversion and Caste, Chad M. Bauman argued that the Sangh Parivar leaders followed the same technique in the Kandhamal riots by linking local politics and clashes with broader national fears like extinction of Hinduism, a Christian demographic increase and even a 'Christian military coup', thereby providing justification for anti-Christian violence and also issuing a 'national call to arms' for the defense of the Khandamal Hindus.
December 2007 violence
Human Rights Watch reported that the first wave of violence occurred on December 24, 2007, during an ice argument between Christians and Hindus over Christmas celebrations in the Kandhamal district. A Christian group attacked a vehicle belonging to VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and in retaliation 19 churches were completely burned down and razed. Hindutva groups and the activists of the Kui Samaj were mostly involved in the 2007 attacks.
The Kui Samaj and the VHP called for a bandh on December 25 to protest against the granting of ST status to the Pana Christians. The VHP also called for a bandh on Christmas Day for the attack on Lakshmananda's car. This led to Clashes between both the groups which continued for days where 837 families lost their houses. A mob of 500 strong attackers also torched a police station and burned the police vehicles and a Congress parliamentarian's house was also attacked. Saffron activists and Kui tribals who opposed the tribal status to the predominantly Christian Pana tribals joined in the attacks. According to various Non-Governmental Organizations, the VHP exploited the tensions between the Kui Samaj and Pana Christians to propel the Christmas attacks.
From December 24 to 27, 2007, at least three persons were killed and over 100 churches and church institutions, including convents and hostels, about 700 houses and other structures were burnt during the riots.
On 1 January 2008 further violence was reported at several places. Police said at least 20 houses and shops were torched at Phiringia, Khajuripada, Gochapada and Brahmanigaon by rioters.
Murder of Swami Lakshmanananda
On the evening of Saturday, 23 August 2008, unknown militants entered into the Ashram at around 8.00 p.m. and fired bullets from an AK-47 at Laxmanananda Saraswati at Jalespata Vanabashi Kanyashram in Kandhmal District of Orissa. After killing him, the proxy militants allegedly also cut various parts of his body by chisel and axe. Others who tried to rescue the Swami, namely Sadhwi Bhakti Mata who was overall charge of the Kalyan Ashram, Kishore Baba, Amritanand Baba and a visitor guardian of an inmate of the school, were also killed. The dead body of Bhakti Mata was also defaced and ripped by brutal cut injuries. The attackers, estimated at thirty gunmen, were suspected of being Maoist insurgents but the Sangh Parivar family blamed it upon local Christian evangelical groups.Dialogue, Sacrifice and Reconciliation:A Study of Kandhamal Violence, Odisha Both the manner of attack and a letter found at the attack provided the basis for this. The government announced a special investigative probe into the attack.Protests in Orissa over killing of VHP leader NDTV – 24 August 2008
While the government held the Maoist insurgents of being responsible for the attacks, the Sangh Parivar groups blamed the incident on the Christians. The VHP state general secretary, Gouri Ram Prasad blamed the murder on the Christians and also said that the organization would retaliate on the Christians and also called for a ban on churches in the district.
In October 2008, a senior Maoist leader claimed responsibility for the murder of Laxmanananda and police officials confirmed that the Maoists trained youth in the tribal community to murder Laxmanananda.
Kandhamal riots
At the midnight of August 23–24, hours after VHP chief Lakshmanananda Saraswati was killed, the chaos began. The police suspected the role of Maoists and announced it to the media at 11:00 pm. The news spread quickly and activists from Sangh Parivar groups, including the VHP and Bajrang Dal, erected barriers in several locations including Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The police theory of suspected Maoist involvement was denied by Sangh Parivar leaders who accused militant Christians of murdering Lakshmanananda. On August 23, about midnight, demonstrators burned down a private bus and also damaged many churches.
The VHP and Bajrang Dal called for a statewide shutdown on Monday, 25 August 2008. Activists from the BJP, VHP, the Hindu Jagarana Samukhya and the Bajrang Dal staged protests and blocked traffic in nearly all district headquarters towns in the next morning demanding the detention of the Lakshmananda's killers. Businesses, banks and all schools and universities stayed closed as directed by the government. The police in the state stood mostly as silent observers to the harassment of those who had stepped out of their homes during the bandh. On the same day, rioters attacked a Christian orphanage at Khuntpalli village in Bargarh district. A local Hindu woman employee in her 20s was gang-raped and burnt alive by the mob after she was mistaken for a Christian, when the orphanage was set on fire.
The funeral procession which passed through hundreds of villages, was organized from Lakshmanananda's ashram at Jalespata to Chakapad. The procession began on the noon of August 24 and ended at the afternoon of the next day after stopping for the night at Phulbani. The event was attended by Sangh Parivar leaders, including Suresh Pujari, the State BJP's president. Hundreds of people assembled along the way to pay their last respects. Enraged mobs there assaulted Christians in the towns that the procession went through. Christians who were considered to be supporters of Congress were assaulted everywhere and many Hindus were also assaulted in some places because they supported the congress. The attackers included the BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar groups and the Biju Janata Dal.