All India Christian Council leader John Dayal travels to the areas most affected by the August 2008 Hindu-led anti-Christian pogrom. “Many destroyed homes have not been rebuilt,” he found, as insecurity still reigns for Christians. Political leaders are still saying on sidelines and mass media are still “influenced by prejudices.” Coexistence can be rebuilt, when “civil society and peaceful institutions are revived.”

Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – Christians in Orissa live a “harsh reality” and the Church has a “major role to play at the grassroots level to rebuild social and civil society structures to give courage and strength to the victims,” said John Dayal, founder and leader of the All India Christian Council (AICC), as he described the long list of problems Christians face in the Indian State more than a year after they were the victims of a pogrom at the hands of Hindu radicals (August 2008).

After visiting the areas most affected by the violence, especially Kandhamal district, Dayal noted, “most of the 5,000 Christian houses destroyed have not been rebuilt” whilst “threats and coercion continue to this today.” But there is more. Not only are deaths, destruction and sham trials still important considerations, the fate of civil society has to be taken into account. Indeed, ‘if it ever existed in the State, it is now plain dead,” Dayal said.

What worries the AICC leader the most is the absence of two things, a sense of shared community among people and the necessary bases to restore the harmonious coexistence that characterised thousands of years of living together.

“Except for a few leftwing parties, the political establishment, including friendly parties and groups, did not protest; they were silent and invisible” when violence broke in December 2007 and August 2008, he said. The same applies to the mass media, especially local media, which remain “very biased.” Only when “civil society and peaceful institutions are revived”, can coexistence be rebuilt.

Some groups and associations have begun to meet again on a sporadic basis to rebuild the social fabric of the area, “but there is not much sharing of information or ideas.”

A meeting in Bhubaneshwar last month promoted by Fr Ajay Kumar Singh and Dhirendra Panda is of the most significant initiatives taken in that direction, according to Dayal. Victims, Dalits, women human rights activists and representatives of political parties took part in the event, except for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

For Dayal, the Bhubaneshwar meeting was a good sign of the path to follow, but it is just a start that is still hard pressed to take shape.  He believes that to revitalise civil society, contribute to greater awareness of people’s problems and put pressure on the authorities as well as the courts, local religious institutions have a key role to play. And in this, the Church has an important role to play at the grassroots level to rebuild social and civil society structures to give courage and strength to the victims”.

“Even if the “Church was shattered, deeply wounded and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the violence,” it is still duty-bound to build the foundations on which society in Orissa can rise again and make the State a place in which Christians can live free, safe and in harmony with other religions.

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• dayal