New Delhi - Suspected Maoist rebels gunned down a Hindu
leader in the Kandhamal district of India's eastern Orissa state that
saw weeks of bloody Hindu-Christian riots in 2008, news reports said
Thursday.
A group of 15 to 20 armed Maoists killed Prabhat Panigrahi
Wednesday night in Rudiguma village of communally-sensitive
Kandhamal, about 200 kilometres west of state capital Bhubaneshwar,
IANS news agency reported, citing police.
Panigrahi was a local leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a
Hindu hardline organization.
Kandhamal district saw weeks of violence that claimed more than 30
lives after the killing of another Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda
Saraswati, in August 2008.
Scores of churches and Christian houses were set on fire in the
district in violent protests by Hindu groups and clashes between
Hindu and Christian villagers.
Panigrahi was arrested for alleged involvement in the riots but
was released on bail Saturday.
Kandhamal district police chief S Praveen Kumar said police were
finding it difficult to reach Rudiguma because the rebels had felled
trees to block all approaches.
Saraswati, a leader of another radical Hindu organization, the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council, and four of his aides
were killed by unidentified gunmen in August.
The police suspect Maoist rebels of being responsible for that
incident as well.
Saraswati had been leading a campaign against conversion to
Christianity in the area.
Kandhamal district, home to some 600,000 people, is among India's
poorest.
A majority of the population is tribal. Many of them have
converted to Christianity over the past few decades. Christian
missionaries are active in the region promoting healthcare and
education.
About 25 per cent of Kandhamal's population is Christian compared
to the 2.3-per-cent national figure.
Organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have accused
Christian missionaries and aid workers of luring the poor tribal
people to convert by promising them material assistance.
Communally sensitive areas of Orissa, like Kandhamal, have seen
several clashes between Hindus and Christians in the past.
In one of the worst such incidents, Australian missionary Graham
Staines and his two young sons were burned alive in 1999 by a
fanatical Hindu mob that set their car on fire in Keonjhar district.
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