Prevent Another Massacre of Religious Minorities In Odisha, India

FIACONA demands freedom of religious and human rights for vulnerable citizens

WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2024  — Indian-American Christian leaders are concerned that a commemoration of a controversial Hindu nationalist leader in eastern India may spark violence in his memory.

Hindu nationalist groups intend to commemorate Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 25-26, 2024 in Jaleshpata, Odisha in the District of Kandhamal. Swami Saraswati’s assassination in August 2008 sparked the worst pogrom against minority Christians in India’s history. At least 60,000 people were burned out of their homes with more than 100 killed and hundreds more wounded.

Indian journalist Prafulla Das reported during the pogrom, “Police on duty at various police stations did not attempt to prevent the protesters from attacking Christians and their property. The fact that the police did not open fire anywhere in Kandhamal district to stop the dance of death gave rise to the suspicion that they were acting on the instructions of their political bosses.”

A false rumor spread like wildfire that Christians were responsible for the murder of Saraswati, a leader in the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was designated as a “militant religious organization” by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Saraswati spent years promoting the “conspiracy” of Christian conversion and openly sought to forcibly reconvert Dalit caste and Indigenous Adivasi people who had adopted Christianity. Hindu supremacists blamed Christians for his murder without any evidence and despite counter-claims of responsibility by communist insurgents.

The National Solidarity Forum, quoting A.P. Shah, former judge of the Delhi and Madras High Court, says, “The state government of Orissa has completely failed to take action to prevent horrific crimes. It tried to portray the massacre as a tribal conflict, instead of recognizing the severity of the violence.”

“People have an innate right to choose their religion,” says Federation of Indian-American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACON) executive director Neal Christie. “The Kandhamal District authorities, police, and religious and civil society leaders must reject scapegoating and vigilante violence. Yes, pray, but then protect Christians, Dalits, and Adivasis who choose their faith freely without the threat of harm by religious supremacists.”

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appointed Mohan Charan Majhi as the current chief minister of Odisha although he is an active member of the Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu nationalist organization known for its violence against Muslim and Christian and caste minorities, leading to campaigns of terror, including calls to violence and genocide. Notably, the Bajrang Dal was implicated in burning alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons in Odisha in 1999.

“It is astonishing and unacceptable that the chief minister argued for the early release of the far-right Hindu nationalist figure, Dara Singh, who was convicted of leading the mob that burned alive Dr. Graham Staines and his two young sons, even though Staines was known for nothing more than devoting his life to the care of people with leprosy,” says Christie. “A chief minister must provide equal protection not only of the lives of Christians but also all minorities and citizens of Odisha, yet Mahji’s dreadful track record shows he has already failed at doing so.”

Christian leaders in the state of Odisha have been training and encouraging people of faith in every district to pray and proactively prevent possible acts of violence.

FIACONA calls Chief Minister Mohan Majhi to uphold India’s Constitution and its guarantee of human rights and freedom of religion or else resign from office. FIACONA also appeals to civil society to secure the safety of all religious minorities in the state of Odisha and demands the prosecution of all who were involved in the 2008 Odisha Pogrom and every other anti-minority atrocity in that state of Odisha.

Contact:

Rev. Neal Christie

FIACONA—Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America

https://fiacona.org/

NealChristie@fiacona.org

+1.202.285.4544