Night curfew imposed in five more places
58 villages affected, 657 houses damaged
curfew continues: The streets of Baliguda remain deserted on Friday as curfew is still in force for long periods, after communal violence rocked Kandhamal district of Orissa last week
BHUBANESWAR: The communal violence that recently hit backward Kandhamal district cannot be seen in isolation when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates have been saying that Orissa will be their next Hindutva laboratory after Gujarat, said Sitaram Yechury, senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader here on Friday. “It has implications for the whole country.”
After the victory of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat, RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad had started the process of consolidating the Hindu vote bank, Mr. Yechury told a press conference.
The very fact that the communal violence in Kandhamal started a day after the announcement of the Gujarat election results made it clear that it was premeditated, he said.
Mr. Yechury, who talked to some victims of the violence from Kandhamal here and saw photographs and other visuals depicting the damage, observed that the pattern was exactly like what happened in Dangs district of Gujarat 10 years ago.
He planned to visit Brahamanigaon, one of the worst affected villages in Kandhamal on Friday. However, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and top officials requested him not to go.
The CPI(M) leader came down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik Government for its ‘failure’ to deal with the situation in Kandhamal.
“The fact that we are being requested not to visit the affected areas more than 10 days after violence hit the district makes it amply clear that the situation was yet to turn normal,” he said.
Mr. Yechury said the administration had not been able to work effectively as the Bharatiya Janata Party was a partner in the two-party coalition government in the State, Mr. Yechury said. “This is not a good sign.”
As for the tribals’ opposition to grant of scheduled tribe status to the Dalit Christians in Kandhamal, Mr. Yechury said the latter should not be granted ST status just because they spoke the Kui tribal language. He, however, said the government should take measures to bring the Dalit Christians under the purview of reservation to put an end to the problem.
He also demanded land reforms in the region to ensure uplift of the tribals who were economically backward than the Dalits in Kandhamal.
Sporadic violencePTI reports from Phulbani:
Night curfew was imposed at five more places in Kandhamal district following sporadic violence in the last few days.
They were Kelapada, Nuapadar, Pabingia, Bhrungijodi and Dindragaon villages.
Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Friday that night curfew also continued in the sensitive Brahmanigaon, Phulbani, Baliguda, Daringbadi and Phiringia towns, he said. The government was hopeful of restoration of complete normality in Kandhamal in the next four-five days.
The Centre has accepted the State’s request for extending deployment of paramilitary forces like the CRPF in the riot-torn district up to January 7, he said.
The latest assessment showed that 58 villages were affected and around 657 houses damaged, official sources said, adding the exercise of assessing the extent of damage was expected to be completed on Saturday.
The authorities started disbursing compensation to the affected people, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (southern division) Satyabrata Sahu said.
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