| Font Size |
Father Thomas, vice-director of Divya Jyothi Pastoral Centre, under the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, was mercilessly thrashed, humiliated and nearly set on fire by mobs of Hindu zealots in K Nuagaon in Kandhamal, as several policemen watched impassively. This is Father Thomas’s story.
“There had been some tension in K Nuagaon over cow slaughter. When I heard about the gruesome murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on the night of August 23, I rushed to the local camp office of the Orissa State Armed Police, seeking protection for our house,” he told The Indian Express.
“The officer at the camp was casual. ‘There’s no reason to panic. We are here to take care of you’, he said.”
Reassured, Thomas returned home.
The next morning, a huge commotion drew Thomas out of his home. Outside the locked gate was a large Hindu mob, shaking the gate fiercely, shouting slogans against Christians, and spitting abuses against the priest. Besides Thomas, there was another priest, Father Casian, and a young nun in the house then.
As the mob’s blood-baying reached a crescendo, Thomas, Casian and the nun managed to jump over the back wall of the house. As they fled for their lives into the woods behind the house, they could hear the gate being ripped up. And very soon, thick black smoke was rising from the blazing inferno that their home had become.
As the three missionaries cowered in the forest, Thomas and the nun got separated from Casian. Casian hid among the bushes for three days and nights before finally finding his way home. Thomas and nun stumbled to the home of a Hindu late in the night, who gave them food and shelter.
But the ordeal wasn't over yet. In fact, it probably hadn't even begun.
On the next morning, Thomas woke up to the baying of the crowd, this time smashing a small church in the locality. “Soon our shelter became unsafe. The house-owner shifted me to an out-house, while the nun was put up in the house.”
This safety did not last. By noon, the mob had figured out where the missionaries were hiding. They broke into the house, and snatched the nun. They then smashed the door of the outhouse and bodily picked up and threw the priest out on the ground. He was then taken to an open place where a many more people were waiting, armed with axes, spades, crowbars, sickles and iron rods.
A savage beating followed. “They swarmed over me, beating me wherever they could. They tore my shirt. They kept saying, ‘Why did you kill Swamiji? How much did you give the hired killers? Why are you conducting meetings here?’,” Thomas said.
After a while, the venue of the assault changed. Both Thomas and the nun were pushed and jostled to the Gram Vikas building. Here, the nun was molested, many hands ripped away her blouse, and violated her savagely as the mob roared.
“I begged with them to leave her. In reply, they hit me with iron rod. They then poured kerosene over me, and prepared to set me on fire.”
“Just then, some of the attackers suggested I should be burned on the road, where more people could see me die. So they dragged me to the road and forced to kneel as they showered blows and abuses on me for over 10 minutes.”
After a while, the ravaged nun was brought out too. The mob had changed its mind again. They now wanted to burn both captives together, in Nuagaon, half a kilometre away.
“We were nearly naked as we were marched to Nuagaon. The beating and abuses never stopped. Some of them were cursing us in Malayalam, so I think they might have worked in Kerala,” said Thomas.
“In Nuagaon, several armed policemen were standing, their faces deadpan. I pleaded them to help us. They said nothing. And watched as a man pounced on me, thrashing me for having asked for help. Suddenly, someone kicked me square on the face. As I lay on the ground bloodied, I could see a shopkeeper from Nuagaon collecting discarded vehicle tyres and tubes to burn us.”
At the end, however, for some reason, the final step wasn't taken.
The mob let them be taken to K Nuagaon police outpost, where the missionaries were given first aid. “By late night, a team of policemen led by an officer came and took us to Balliguda,” Thomas said.
"At Balliguda we were provided accommodation at the CRPF camp. The policemen at the camp were helpful. Then we were taken to Balliguda police station, where we were asked if we wanted to lodge FIRs. We lodged three separate FIRs: for the attack on the house, the attack on me, and the assault on the nun. In the evening, we were bundled off to Bhubaneswar, where we reached in the wee hours of August 27."
Here, Thomas was taken to a local hospital, and later to another one in Mumbai, before being shifted to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment.
He told this paper that he would go back to Kandhamal in Orissa to continue the social service he first began in 1970.
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
It’s surprising to see respondents justifying attacks on Christians’ holy places, giving lame excuses. Actually, one cannot be converted by force. It’s simply impossible. It’s actually the opposite. Imagine the pressure from your own family if you wanted to change your religion! There are many who face this pressure! Not the other way! Conversion is therefore very difficult even after being convinced of it! How can you be ‘forced’ against such forces? And what can that ‘force’ be? Still, even with false accusations, how can one justify violence, instead of law enforcement? It shows a wrong thinking. Still, I don’t condemn such people. One does get irrational with strong emotions. But please think coolly. You will admire the love of Christians. Christ teaches only to forgive, love, endure persecution, pray for even enemies and actually to die for a friend. Let us start spreading love and our country will soon reach its well deserved top place. God bless India!
Communal strife is primarily fired by the Christian greed for harvensting souls. As Pope John Paul 2 declared here when he was in India in 2002, the Vatican has set a goal - to "conquer Asia in the 3rd Millenium" in the words of the Pope to quote him. So by the end of this millenium, they wish to wipe out all the native faiths in Asia and convert everyone to Christianity!! Such is the madness. Let us, as civilized humans of 20th Century, put an end to this Semetic madness. The Church has to tender an apology for the creedal agression that it is executing against us and halt it forthwith. If we cannot do this and allow them to tear apart our society at will, there will be communal strife like this one till such time that the proselytization is complete!! Decision is ours.
Communal riots are common in any democratic set up. We have witnessed these types of communal clashes in Karnataka in the past also. But what is interesting to note is that the opposition parties always get some political mileage from the problem,instead In 1992 when S Bangarappa, the then Congress Chief Minister was ruling the state, there was an outburst of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims, resulting in loss of lives and property. At that time, the Janata Dal, headed by H D Deve Gowda, using the issue was able to snatch the reinsAfter the alleged attack on churches at Mangalore, the CM has strongly condemned the incident and directed the police to register appropriate cases against those who are involved in the crime. As a head of the state the CM has done his duty
Does Indian express would write such a big and detailed article about the sufferings of hindus in jammu and kashmir by congress vote banks. Does IE write a detailed story about godhra carnage by congress vote banks? Does IE write a big article about delhi, mumbai, hyderabad, ahmedabad, varanasi and bangalore blasts triggered by united pro terrorists alliance vote banks? No, because IE is paid by fake gandhis and anti Indian to defame and destroy India and Indians and hindus in particular. Kick upa, congres and fake gandhis out of India and save India.
There is no doubt that the recent damage done to churches is harmful to a peaceful society in Karnataka. But the way the situation is being handled by politicians and people prominent in public life, can perpetuate the harm done.For example, Mallikarjuna Kharge advises Hindu seers to stick to religion and not meddle in politics. Can he explain the ruckus kicked up by his party, when in power, about the Kanaka Dasa tower incident? The constitutional right he claims is available for others too, in a public cause. More distressing is the news of the respectable former judge, M F Saldanha, and former police chiefs like Colaso and Sangliana, discussing the situation with a US diplomat. Do they believe that the US government has a legitimate right to interfere in our local issues? Or is it a coincidence that the Italian and US governments show so much involvement in an Indian domestic matter? What are their interests?
Pls stop denigrating Hindu gods and forced conversions N we also will come and pray in churchThe violence against Christians in Karnataka is a reaction to the aggressive propaganda and mindless evangelism of hundreds of foreign-funded, cultic, fundamentalist, fanatic and revivalist Christian groups spread all over the State and elsewhere. They denigrate Hindu gods and rituals as barbaric. They are the root cause of tension between Christian and Hindu communities. Why should anybody be surprised if the ‘extremists’ among Hindus are offended and react violently? It is high time leaders of the established mainline churches, known for their erudition, equipoise and empathy, came out in the open and disowned such provocative acts of intolerance of the fundamentalist Christian groups masquerading as real Christians. How can the Christian preachers propagate that their faith is the best in the world without reading what the scriptures of other faiths have to say? My anguish is s
The bias of the anti-Hindu electronic English media is evident in the hyper excited reporting of the church attack. The likes of Girish Karnad, U R Ananthamurthy and Mahesh Bhatt Teesta Shabana Azmi Barka Dutt Sardesai know which side of their bread is buttered. Their selective amnesia is amusing. Did these raise any voice in support of amaranth pilgrims protest or against durga pooja protest and and innumerous atrocities on majarityThey never react on lakhs of Hindus being displaced from Kashmir or innumreous atrocities on hindus. These opportunists are no better than traitors of the past who are ready to sell the dignity of the country for their selfish gains.
It began with the arrival of Christian missionaries in the area who found the remote region very conducive to conduct prosetylization amongst the poor tribals. The conversions continued unhindered until the arrival of Swami Laxmanananda who put strenuous efforts to stop conversions and help reconversion to Hinduism as well. If not for his effort Kandhamal would have been another Nagaland in the making where the separatist movement has wrecked havoc in the state. The aggressive Christian proselytization in Orissa today pitched previously peaceful tribals into warring camps of Christians and non-Christian. This has has vitiated the peace that has existed with various communities for millenia. Why Orissa Orissa has been specially targeted because of a huge tribal population. This allows the missionaries to work from the scrutiny of the media and carry our their nefarious activities. In Kandhamal district, for instance, the Christian population has increased FIVE FOLD IN 25 YEARS
this is a savage act, its a sad thing we do not live in a secular world, who say india is secular its the most communal nation like the saudi where there is no freedom of religion and i am amazed to see the world is sleeping as in the case of rwanda.if only western world put sanction that would be afitting reply to this savage communal act which the government of india is a spectator watching the fun.western world and the UN should act now before its too late.
i am taking it for granted that u r a good for nothing nincompoop who live on the doles given by missionaries.
Dear Indian Express ... Thank you for such graphic details of ordeals faced by Fathers doing inncocent work of spreading God's word. How sad that people are targetting those who are doing such great work of bringing GOD close to the backward humanity in Orissa without any invitations.Totaaly voluntary service!!! What a national shame.How about running something on Hindus of Kashmir? What..not convenient? Ok then do whatever you are doing. Afterall its God's work you are supporting. Keep it up.
Dear HS, May be you have been lucky not to be a target of mob violence or terrorism.The victims whether hindus of kashmir or christians in orissa will find a common ground in appreciating your comments on Indian express reporting a incident which will make the of the hearts of those who love India swell with pride!
exactly. Well said !! specially "How about running something on Hindus of Kashmir? What..not convenient?"so true and shameful!!
The National Minorities Commission (NMC) is active only when the sufferers are non-Hindus,namely Christians and Muslims. But when it’s a case of Hindus being the minority community, their sufferings are totally ignored.Take the case of Hindu Reangs of Mizoram: they have been driven out of the state since they refuse to embrace Christianity. The NMC has never bothered to visit the camps of these 30,000 unfortunate Reangs in Tripura. Nor has it bothered to look into the pathetic living conditions of Kashmiri Pandits, either in Jammu or elsewhere.Hindus, as a minority community, cannot celebrate Durga Puja in southern Tripura, Meghalaya and other Christian majority states of the east. Does the Constitution define minorities as only non-Hindus? Now, when some churches have been attacked in and around Mangalore, they have rushed in, which has ultimately resulted in the Central Government issuing a warning to the Karnataka government.