Christians are hoping for a peaceful Christmas

The Hindu nationalists in the Indian federal state of Orissa have called off a general strike planned for Christmas. The decision was preceded by massive pressure at home and abroad, reported the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Sunday in Göttingen. Instead of the strike the radical Hindus want to bear tribute with prayer meetings to their leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati who was murdered on 23rd August 2008. Christians had feared that the purpose of the general strike on 25th December was to disturb the Christmas celebrations in Orissa. In the disturbed region about 60 Christians have been killed in pogrom-like attacks since August 2008 by Hindus.

It was with relief that the Archbishop Raphael Cheenath from Bhubaneswar-Cuttack responded. At the same time he called on the Prime Minister of Orissa in a discussion on Saturday not to reduce too quickly the protection of the churches and church buildings. For there is still an acute danger of attacks which are motivated by religion and politics, not only in the Kandhamal district, but also in the four dioceses Balasore, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur. In the Kandhamal district the Catechist Yuvraj Digal was on his way home to his village of Kanjamedi on his moped when an angry mob stopped him. The group of about 50 Hindus accused him of being responsible for the murder of the radical Hindu leader, which was however according to police information committed by Maoist rebels. The 40-year old leader of the Christian community was killed in his village by the mob. His 20-year old son Bhidyadhar was able to flee and alarm the police.

In view of the protests from abroad India’s democracy fears for its reputation in case of further riots breaking out against religious minorities. So the Indian Minister of the Interior P. Chidambaram appealed again today to the Prime Minister of Orissa, to guarantee the safety of the Christians. Last Wednesday the National Human Rights Commission of India called on the government of Orissa to put down in writing how Christians are to be protected from new attacks. In view of the continuing violence against religious minorities the Catholic Bishops Conference of India called on the Indian federal government to extend the concept of "terrorism” in the penal code and to treat determined attacks on ethnic and religious groups as "terrorism”.