Author: Sampad Mahapatra
Publication: NDTV.com
Date: September 4, 2008
URL: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080063999
The death of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader
Swami Laxmananand has set Orissa's Kandhmal district on fire.
But the flames have intensified the mystery
over who was behind the killing of the Swami and his four disciples.
First, the police suggested that it was the
work of Naxal groups. But now, they have changed their stand.
The police may say it's a wide open debate
but questions are now being raised over whether the government failed to see
the warning signs building up in the district in the run up to the killings.
In July this year, in Kandhmal district's
Malipada village, a rally held by the Christian Pano community demanded the
ouster of Swami Laxmananand from the district for spreading communal hatred.
Panos are Scheduled Caste Christians who have
a decent number in Kandhmal and have been locked in a conflict with the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad over conversions.
Their latest protest comes after the Swami
had demanded the arrest of the Christian Panos who attacked one of his disciples
on July 8 when he objected to cow slaughter in an open field.
A former MP from Kandhmal, Nakul Nayak, who
is a member of the Christian Pano community, had told NDTV in July that they
were planning protests against the Swami for his alleged role in the communal
and ethnic riots in Kandhmal the previous year in which three people were
killed.
"We have given 10 days time to the district
administration to take action against him. If within 10 days they don't take
action against him then we will sit under the banner and name of Kandhmal
Mool Vasinda Manch (Original Inhabitants' Front) and we will decide on a future
course of action against him," Nakul had said.
The protests also saw Dalit Christian leaders
delivering fiery speeches, which carry an incitement to violence. But the
Swami who was in his Jalespata Kanyashram was unmoved.
In an interview to NDTV given a month before
he was killed, the slain VHP leader was very clear about his own agenda.
"Their design to convert large tract
of our land into a Christian kingdom was dashed when God sent me here from
the Himalayas. That's why they want me out of the district. That will make
their task easy. But as long as I am alive I'll not allow that to happen and
make sure they are driven out from this district," he had said.
But even after he told the local police on
the August 22 about the death threat he had received through a letter, no
attempt was made to strengthen his security.
He was killed the next day along with four
others inside his ashram.
Police say there is no evidence linking Swami
Laxmananand Saraswati's killing with the campaign against him. But sources
in the police say the Maoists who are active in this area may have carried
out the operation to appease the pre-dominantly Christian population who form
their support base.
