Where does my help come from...A Kandhamal Diary

`Where does my help come from’?

The Politics of Religious Divide.

About 140 kms. From Behrampur, the nearest railway station, is Durga Prasad the gateway, from where the road begins it’s climb to the hills of Kandhamal district in Orissa, which in 2007-2008 bore witness to perhaps the most deadly violence against Christians in independent India.

The echoes of the riots still ring clear. On Apr.17, an ADJ of the local court in Phulbani (the district headquarters) acquitted 11 persons charged with the murder of a Gopan Nayak along with supplementary offences like rioting, house burning, unlawful assembly with arms and other sections of the Indian Penal code.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD dumped the saffron BJP in 2009 weeks before the  then national polls. Passions ran high and BJP fielded Manoj Pradhan, a Kandh accused of leading mobs against Christians for the Udaygiri assembly seat.  Pradhan beat his Congress rival by 23,000 votes, despite the police having slapped at least 13 cases against him. Subsequently, Pradhan was convicted in at least two murder cases. BJP has maintained he's in the clear, the charges trumped up.

Naveen's decision to dump BJP was hailed as a "masterstroke". His party swept the polls, winning 103 of the 147 assembly seats and 14 of the 21 LS ones. Naveen went on to say that "each bone in my body is secular" condemning his ex-ally with every sharp word.

In 2014, poll pundits predict a fractured mandate at the Centre post-May 16. There's talk about the possibility of BJD and BJP joining hands again. Such a line of thought returns Kandhamal to the discourse. Will "secular" Naveen tie-up with the "communal" BJP led by Narendra Modi? Or, will BJD pursue its stated policy of equidistance from both Congress and BJP and prefer the Third Front?


The Social Disenfranchisement

The arch at Durga Prasad, strategically blocked during the riots, to prevent outsiders from entering and those inside from escaping, now leads to a new well-paved highway with reflector lined track markers belying it’s eerie past.

A few kilometers ahead of Udaygiri, a centre of Hindu nationalism and among the worst hit during the 2007-2008 riots, is an enclave of  well constructed homes, with satellite TV dishes peeking into the sky. This colony of Christians in Nandagiri evolved from an erstwhile relief camp- part of the government’s relief and reconstruction program post the 2008 riots, is an object of envy among many. The government only sponsored relief for those who had registered police cases against their perpetrators. Those who opted not to out of fear or possibly `forgiveness’ don’t stand the government’s requirement of proof.

A further climb for a few kilometers brings one to the erstwhile fulcrum of violence. The small town with a divisive Hindu nationalist presence is now dotted with church buildings in various states of reconstruction, standing cheek by jowl- telling a story of the faith amongst the Dalits in Orissa- a faith which seems under siege- by poverty, lack of development, corruption amongst religious leaders, tribal chauvinism, and the rising assault of Hindu nationalism.
 A major bone of contention/ prejudice is the local Kui samaj, the organization which issues the `passport’ – the caste/tribe certificate, to government directed preference (affirmative action) in jobs and education.
While Schedule Tribes (ST) can avail of the benefits irrespective of their religion- the Scheduled Caste (SC) benefits extend only to the Hindus. A  cause for simmering discontent- young aspirational

Enosh Kumar Naik

Kuis like Enosh Kumar Naik, son of a school-teacher couple- a tall 22 yr. old who dropped out of the local post  high school education during the 2008 riots and not yet back in school.“When we Christians ask for our certificate, they tell us that we are outsiders and delay or refuse to grant us the recognition.” After much wrangling, they will ask us to register for an SC certificate, which means we disown our religion- atleast in the books.

Corruption runs rampant. Enosh’s mother – a school teacher employed by the government (a privileged position with lifelong employment and pension benefits) needs to withdraw a portion of her Provident Fund (retirement bonus) in advance ( a provision under the law) to facilitate some expenses. The clerks won’t move the file without their palms being greased.
Youth leader at his `Baptist’ church which has a  history running back more than a 100 years,  Enosh has now invested funds to join a popular pyramid network sales firm. A dead-end career.

But compared to the time-warp caught lifestyle of their counterparts in the many hill-community hamlets, the towns folk seem better off.


The Tribal Faith
Enosh’s brother –in-law Sudesh is an itinerant pastor & minister. With a three year degree in theology from distant Adoor, in `St. Thomas Christian’ Kerala, Sudesh is part of a informal network of independent churches and pastors, who constitute the custodians of the gospel among a scattered, illiterate and disenfranchised community.

Pastor Sudesh against sunflower fields

A Sunday morning trek into the hills around Milkapanga, in neighbouring Gajapati district, can be a treasure for the Christian romanticist. Brown tatched huts bordered by fields full of sunflower, popular gospel tunes ringing the air from atavistic conical speakers tied on branches and every hamlet with it’s customary church edifice- A mud wall with rafters that support tin sheets.

Sunday morning worship is patterned along a familiar mould. Exultant singing, by a congregation predominantly women and children, a short exhortation, loud penitence before the communion (bread & sweet sugar syrup ) and a closing prayer.
Conversions are a corporate affair. Once a village elder makes the decision, the entire community follows suit. The elder or another popular leader is appointed the pastor and they soon need their own church building. The appeal is channeled through the larger network to Bangalore and Kerala, and bank transfers soon follow. Network-marketing at another level?
The flip side of a mass conversion is the community identity that the congregation develops. Each hamlet has it’s tribal realpolitick, and interactions are controlled/managed  by the influential leaders (very often also called the pastor or deacon).
Tribal hubris also plays a role… youth often visit a neighbouring hamlet for a game of volleyball, but never to worship together.
Church construction is the link to prosperous Christian centres in the country like Bangalore and Kerala. Well meaning Christians firmly believe that they are helping build the kingdom and contribute. The contributions pass through the many layered network and end up as tin sheets; which need to be foisted onto mud-walls. The sum-total, of many so called `missionary church building’ and planting activity.
While the faith built civilizations elsewhere, the mahwa or mahua or Iluppai (`liquor-fruit’) laden

Liquor-fruit trees

hills of Kandhamal seem to have intoxicated it to a stupor. The major enterprise here is collecting, drying and selling it. And many `pastors’ seem nonchalant about the ethical constraints. The final processed product retails at about $1.5 a litre, a substantial takeaway. Education, healthcare, sanitation, employment- all seem wishful realities from another world.
Children listlessly running about, men and women idling away… The central government has made efforts to generate employment through building of rural roads, afforestation along the highways and other activities designed to chanelise a livelihood subsidy under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act  ( MNREGA). But this involves trekking few hours down from the hills to a more connected world, a motivation which seems lacking.  The tribes seem disinclined to leave their comfort zones and society too seems reluctant to reach out. The odd government school in some of the better endowed hamlets remains closed for a good portion of the year, as the single appointed teacher hardly shows up.


The stories
Neeladari: Known by the epitheth, `Paul of Kandhamal’ up to distant Bangalore; in his late forties, a benign smile seems a permanent fixture on his face, as he waits in the courtyard of his house to welcome us; a new and well-built (brick-walled) structure in a Hindu neighbourhood close to the district headquarters of Panchmahal.
We all sit on the floor, and his large family gathers around. Wife, five children and an aged mother. The eldest son is away in a Catholic hostel.

Pastor Sudesh,Neeladari (Rto L)

The narrative goes that Neeladari, a personal bodyguard to Swami Lachmananda, whose violent death sparked the riots of 2007-2008, was part of the saffron brigade .A year before the riots in 2006,  his daughter took ill and was admitted in the local hospital. After the doctors declared her dead, Neeladari was sitting at her bed-side when he had a vision- of the Lord Jesus touching her.
He went back to the doctors and pleaded with them to come and have a look- but they would not budge. After much pleading; one doctor came along and was surprised to see signs of life. They quickly resuscitated her.
About the same time that Neeladari saw the vision, a local pastor with the gift of healing had visited his house and prayed for the daughter.

His daughter’s healing was the turning point for him, and he soon left the services of the Swami.  Neeladari soon turned into an itenarant evangelist and accompanies Pastor Sudesh in sharing his testimony.
Contributions from Christians in Bangalore and Kerala have facilitated the construction of the house. We ask Neeladari if he registered with the District Magistrate as per the requirements of the Orissa Freedom of Religions bill. He quickly retorts that `Conversion is a matter of the heart’. As long as the paperwork is not complete, there is the flexibility to maintain an amorphous identity. One can’t help but wonder if this is a means to don the right hat, depending on where the wind is blowing.
Another colourful testimony is that of Chandrakant.

Chandrakant:  A tantri (witch doctor) who claimed frequent trips to the spirit world was saved after a vision of Jesus. An ostracized Chandrakant has had to reportedly move into a re-designed cow-shed, post conversion.Baptised by Pastor Sudesh, Chandrakant is now a pastor with a congregation among his community, who now need funds for a church building.  Adding poignancy to the story is his wife who has taken their child and moved to her mother’s place after his baptism. They now visit occassionally. Chandrakant too does not see the need to formalize his spiritual conviction.

The Law
Post British colonial rule, Orissa was the first state to enact a law prohibiting conversion from one religion to another by using force, allurement, through inducements like gifts or gratification and grant of any benefit, either pecuniary or otherwise, or by fraudulent means. The Act was enacted in 1967 by the Rajendra Narayan Singhdeo government.
Though the law was enacted in 1967, it could not be implemented for the next 22 years due to the absence of Rules to support it. In 1989, the Orissa Freedom of Religion Rules was framed.
The Orissa Freedom of Religions bill framed in 1989, mandates that `Any person intending to convert needs to give a declaration before a first class magistrate, prior to such conversion that he intends to do so on his own accord. The priest will have to intimate the date, time and place of the ceremony where conversion would take place, along with the names and addresses of the persons to be converted, to the concerned district magistrate 15 days prior to the said ceremony in a prescribed form’.
Nowhere in the conversion stories, either individual or mass do we hear of an adhering to the law of the land. One remembers the apostle Paul who is used as an epitheth in the earlier story and the  respect for the `law’ he demonstrated, by witnessing to the  authorities.
With fluid identities, tribal loyalties, lack of development, network of realpolitick undergirded by financial allure, the faith in the hills of Kandhamal is surely under siege.