Church leaders concerned as bandh declared on Dec 24: Orissa

Christmas once again may be inaccessible for Christians in Orissa's Kandhamal district.

Christian leaders expressed fears that the statewide bandh declared by Hindu groups on Dec. 25, might spark fresh violence on its community.

The 'Sradhanjali Samaroho' rally organised by Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati Smuti Samiti, is backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar outfits like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.

Coincidentally violence in Orissa began last year, 2007, on the Christmas Eve. It was a black Christmas that then followed, with Churches razed down, houses burnt and Christians injured.

During a meeting with Union Ministers in Orissa on Wednesday, Christian leaders in a memorandum requested the politicos to call the bandh illegal.

The Church leaders led by Archbishop Rapheal Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar met the three member team of ministers Sharad Pawar, Meira Kumar and P.R. Kyndiah, who visited the riot-hit state.

In the memorandum they also urged the government to check the forced re-conversions occurring in the state. It demanded that the state punish those people or organisations involved in such actions.

"The silence on part of the Government of Orissa in this regard is only emboldening the divisive communal forces to continue forced conversion on innocent Christians," Archbishop Cheenath said.

They have requested for adequate security for Christian worship places and institutions.

The team of Union Ministers after meeting with Christian leaders and accessing the situation in relief camps, traveled to the Jalespata ashram, where the VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides were killed on August 23. The VHP has submitted a memorandum demanding action against those who killed the Hindu saint.