Citizens for Justice and Peace
Remembering the anti-minority violence in Kandhamal After travelling to Gujarat following the pogrom of 2002, I began inquiring into Hindutva nationalist mobilisations in Odisha
01-Sep-2020
The Hindutva Right’s contemporary targeting of Muslim and Christian religious minorities may be traced to the 1990s. The Muslim community in Bhadrak was targeted through massified violence in March 1991. In January 1999, Graham Staines, 58, Australian missionary, and his 10 and 6-year-old sons were murdered in Keonjhar district. In August 1999, Shiekh Rahman, a Muslim clothes merchant, was mutilated and burned…
Remembering Kandhamal We must all support a brotherhood of victims to challenge impunity and hate
30-Aug-2020
Kandhamal epitomises not only targeted violence against religious and other minorities, but impunity and state acquiescence with powerful political vested interests. It deals a fatal blow to the concept of rule of law, and shakes the faith of the poor in justice. We have called it the biggest atrocity in the Indian subcontinent on…
Kandhamal: 10 years later justice still eludes survivors EXCLUSIVE Interview with Father Ajay Singh
25-Aug-2018
Anti-Christian violence broke out in Kandhamal district of Odisha in August 2008 following the brutal murder of Swami Lakshmanand Saraswati. The violence followed the path of his 200 kilometer funeral procession as it made its way across the region, leaving fire and blood in its wake. Thousands of people were rendered homeless and forced to…