Curfew continues following communal clashes in Orissa

Dec 26:  When the whole world is busy in calculating the good and bad of 2007 Orissa slipped in communal clashes when two groups clashed over the erection of decorative arch for Christmas on Monday in Brahmanigaon.

After the incident VHP leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s vehicle was attacked by a group on his way to Brahmanigaon injuring his body guard and driver.

It took few moments and violence flared up in other part of the district with same intensity as a result curfew was imposed in Brahmanigaon, Baliguda, Daringibadi and Phulbani areas in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Tuesday evening.

It is reported that the violence has claimed one life of Kui tribe and left about 20 people injured when the Sangh supporter and Church supporters indulged in stone pelting.

Many of the churches were damaged by the angry mob and some miscreants also attacked the house of Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera and burnt the Tikabali police station.

The issue became worst with two simultaneous bandh called by VHP of 12 hours and Kui Coordination Committee of 36 hours as a result traffic was badly hit in most areas of the district.

Additional police forces were deployed to monitor the situation it still remain sensitive.

Meanwhile, Navin Patnaik Chief Minister of Orissa has asked people to maintain peace, tranquillity and communal harmony.

He said in his statement, “Everyone should come forward to maintain the rich tradition of the state’s communal harmony.”

This incident has again highlighted another incident which rocked the whole nation when an Australian missionary Graham Staines was burned to death with his two sons in 1999 by a gang headed by Dara Singh who is serving life sentence. Graham was accused by Sangh Parivar for forcibly converting the tribal into Christianity.

The tribals and low-cast Hindus in Orissa and other part of the country are targets of conversion and reconversion. But there was no such communal clash and the state has been a peaceful place for the co-existence of different community. This is for the first time that a number of churches have been attacked by few Hindu hardliners in a propitious occasion of Christmas.