The field commander

Till about two years back,BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan,37,was just another RSS activist in Kandhamal.

Till about two years back,BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan,37,was just another RSS activist in Kandhamal. He was also a staunch follower of Laxmanananda Saraswati,who was emerging as the leader of the Hindu brigade in the region. Pradhan had his following,but not enough to get him elected to the G Udaygiri Assembly seat,which he contested as an Independent in 2004.

But all this changed on August 23,2008,when Laxmanananda was killed in his ashram at Jalespeta in Kandhamal. Pradhan transformed himself overnight,taking on a key role in the Kandhamal riots as he incited youths to avenge Laxmananandas killing. The mobs would raid Christian households,loot them,and burn their properties.

Earlier this week,a fast track court sentenced Pradhan to seven years rigorous imprisonment in connection with the death of a Dalit Christian during the riots. He was convicted under Sections 147 (rioting) and 326 (causing grievous hurt) of IPC in the case related to the killing of Parikhita Nayak,a Dalit Christian from Budedi village under Raikia police station of Kandhamal,on August 27,2008.

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There are five other cases pending against Pradhan,three of which are related to murder.

A Kondh tribal,Pradhan,who dropped out of school after Class X,is the son of a farmer in Patalisahi village. He fashioned himself as a champion of Hindutva in Raikia,a stronghold of Christian missionaries. He was hugely popular among Hindus in Raikia. The youth adored him, says State BJP spokesman Ashok Sahu.

Without doubt,he was the leader of the 2008 violence, says Fr Joseph Kalathil of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Diocese.

But a police official in Kandhamal says Pradhan was more like a field commander who carried out other peoples orders effectively.

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In March last year,deposing before a riot court in Kandhamal,a girl described how a mob led by Pradhan cut and burned her father to death. The girls parents and sister had taken refuge in the forest to escape the mob,but they were tracked down.

Soon after the riots,Pradhan was arrested from a lodge in Berhampur town. During the Assembly elections last year,he managed to secure the BJP ticket for the G Udaygiri seat. Despite fighting the elections from behind bars,he successfully polarised the majority Hindu votes in his favour. Pradhan won the seat,getting 43 per cent of the total 9.2 lakh votes,defeating his nearest rival,Ajayanti Pradhan of the Congress,by an overwhelming majority.

Considering his popularity in the region,it does not come as a surprise that BJP leaders are not ready to write him off. Instead,they describe him as a dedicated partyman who has been framed. The attempt to charge him in the riot cases is most unfortunate, says Sahu. We are certainly going to appeal against the order in High Court, he adds.