KHANDAMAL DISTRICT, ORISSA, INDIA, 2008 - More than 50.000 displaced, thousands of houses destroyed, churches burnt in the dozens, around one hundred people killed and more than two hundred still missing, twelve relief camps set up in a hurry to provide the fleeing Christian tribes of Khandamal with some shelter.

This is the result of the Hindus’ rage eruption that hit hard on the Christian villages between August and September 2008, in one of the poorest districts of India. Khandamal is a mountain area where every plain is cultivated with rice, the major source of income for the village dwellers. Most of the inhabitants belong to the Khanwa tribe, hence the district’s name. The Panos, who are the “dalits” confined at the bottom of the caste ladder, form the next big chunk and converted to Christianity generations ago. The percentage of Christians in Khandamal – 25 percent – is astonishingly high compared to the 2,44 percent for the whole Indian nation.

On the 23rd of August 2008, 81-year-old Swami Laksamananda Saraswati, a widely followed religious figure of the Hindu community, was gunned down at night in the district. Notwithstanding the Maoist guerrilla took responsibility for the action, the Christians were immediately blamed by politicians belonging to the major Hindu parties VHP, RSS and BJP. By August 25, hordes of Hindu militants were attacking Christian homes and places of worship in Khandamal, mainly at night. Whole families had to go hiding in the nearby forest for the following days with no food or water. Those who stayed behind, either old and sick or simply not willing to surrender their hard earned belongings to the assailants, were killed, mutilated and burned, or severely injured.

Three months after the violence peak, the situation is at a deadlock. While the Christians are still stuck in inadequate relief camps, the local government is encouraging them to go back to the villages. But the threat of fresh attacks is too high and the local police force unable to protect. Every week new assassinations of isolated Christian peasants are being reported and the promised refund of 20000 Rs. is not enough to rebuild a house.

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