Swami Laxamananda Saraswati was allegedly attacked by a mob

Eight churches located in rural parties in Orissa have been ransacked and burned by some people of a community that further led to the communal violence in the state. According to the report, one person was killed and several injured in the violence in past three days. Central paramilitary forces marched across riot-hit areas on Thursday to bring back the situat.

A senior police official Narsimha Bol said that except one or two minor incidents, the Kandhamal district by and large remained peaceful in the past 18 hours. On Tuesday, the administration had imposed curfew in affected areas till the situation went back to normalcy. On Wednesday, Naveen Patnaik visited Kandhmal to negotiate with the tribals and leaders of Hindu and Christian communities.

There were contradictory reports of how did the communal violence spark and both the groups blamed each other for provoking others. According to the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the argument started on Monday when some activists of a local group objected to a show marking Christmas Eve.

They objected by saying that the program was designed to encourage lower caste Hindus to convert to Christianity. At the same time, a Hindu group said that the group of Christians tried to attack a local Hindu leader on Monday. They surrounded the vehicle carrying Swami Laxamananda Saraswati as he was on his way to the area. The incident happened on Monday morning near at Dasingbadi in the Christian-majority Brahmanigaon village, 150 km from Phulbani district.

The district of Kandhamal (old Phulbani district) is said to be one of the most communally sensitive district in Orissa. Several incidents of clashes between Hindus and Christians have been reported in the past few years. The state government deployed thousands of security personnel from the state police and the CRPF to the affected areas.

After the incident, the VHP decide to stage protest rally, which later coincided with a bandh called by the tribal groups, Kui Samaj. According to the report, tribal of Kui Samaj staged armed rallies at Khajuripada and Phulbani by ignoring curfew imposed by local administration.

The 36-hr bandh had created major law and order problem in the area. State chief minister Naveen Patnaik called an emergency meeting to review the situation. Leaders of the warring communities attended a peace meeting called by the administration in Phulbani on Wednesday.

Image: BBC