Almost a month after communal riots broke out, fear is the key word in Kandhamal district. Official sources say the situation is under control, but with the conflict between Kui tribals and converted Pana Christians still simmering, they are not taking any chances. The CRPF is expected to camp here till mid-March.

Trouble erupted in Kandhamal on December 24 last year when Kui tribals and Christians (converted SCs) fought over erection of a Christmas welcome gate at Brahmanigaon Bazaar. The situation went out of control after some miscreants allegedly attacked Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a popular local seer, on his way to the village.

Curfew had to be clamped in Brahmanigaon, Baliguda, Daringbadi and other areas of the district after rioters vandalised churches, prayer halls, houses and police posts. A total of 174 persons have been arrested till date in this connection.

An outcome of the violence was that Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera, an MLA from the district, resigned on moral grounds. Kandhamal Sugribha Singh, BJD MP and a converted Christian, is under a cloud as his relatives were alleged to be behind the attack on the Swami.

While the Government has allowed fact-finding teams of political parties and the media to visit the affected villages, NGOs and representatives of the Church have been prevented from taking part in the relief and rehabilitation process.

Meanwhile, fact-finding teams of various political parties which visited the affected areas during the past month had their own versions to offer. The BJP team, headed by MP Jual Oram, said the situation could have been prevented had the Government been alert to the situation. Oram concluded that the “people there were still in a state of fear”. He said large-scale conversions were taking place and Hindus had gradually become a minority in many villages. A majority of those affected in the violence were Hindus, the MP claimed.

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