Odisha: Memories of 2008 riots linger in election season in Kandhamal
The Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, which was carved out after the 2009 delimitation exercise, has 1.33 million eligible voters
On an August afternoon 16 years ago, Sukant Nayak, a Dalit Christian teacher, saw his house being torched by a mob at G Udaygiri block in Kandhamal district of Odisha. His wife, who was hiding in the bush nearby, froze in horror as their semi-pucca (non-mortar roof) house, two motorcycles and all belongings burnt before her eyes, even as the marauding mob advanced. The 74-year-old teacher recalls how he, his wife, their son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters — two-year-old and two-month-old — ran for their lives to a hillock a kilometre away where they hid without food and water for the next three days till they were rescued.
“My daughter-in-law was deranged for several months after her 2-month-old daughter died in her lap when we were hiding. It took our family several years and counselling to get over the loss that we suffered,” Nayak recollects, sitting in his newly built pucca house at Nilungia village in G Udaygiri block.
Last week, all those memories of the fateful August 26, 2008 afternoon came rushing back, courtesy the high-decibel poll campaign in the eastern state.
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 11 took a swipe at VK Pandian, the bureaucrat-turned-politician and presumptive successor to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing him of acting as a “super chief minister”, Pandian said whenever the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself in a losing situation, its leaders start raking up caste, region and religion. The newly joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader also referred to the Kandhamal riots of 2008.
“In Kandhamal, there was a bomb blast and bullets were fired. It (BJP) triggered riots. Naveen babu took strong steps and brought peace to Kandhamal,” Pandian claimed.
Two days later, the BJP hit back, accusing the Naveen Patnaik government of withdrawing the security cover of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose murder on August 23, 2008 triggered the riots.
“Everything happened on the instructions of Naveen Patnaik and he is responsible as security cannot be withdrawn without home department’s order,” BJP lawmaker Pratap Sarangi alleged, wondering as to why the report of the judicial commission that probed the VHP leader’s murder and the riots that followed has not been published yet.
As the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency heads to polls on May 20, the 2008 riots that claimed 43 lives and destroyed thousands of houses and churches in the district are a distant but painful memory for local residents. For some like Nayak, though, the pain lingered. “Having seen the violence from close quarters, I could finally return to my village six years ago with my family,” Nayak said.
Spread across seven assembly constituencies — Baliguda, G Udayagiri, Phulbani, Kantamal, Boudh, Daspalla, and Bhanjanagar — the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, which was carved out after the 2009 delimitation exercise, has 1.33 million eligible voters. While the BJD has renominated its sitting MP and educationist Achyuta Samanta, the BJP has given ticket to RSS veteran Sukanta Panigrahi. The Congress has fielded former GST commissioner Amir Chand Nayak, who took voluntary retirement from service in 2019.
The constituency is a BJD stronghold, with the state’s ruling party winning all seven assembly segments in the last state polls while Samanta defeated BJP’s Kharabela Swain by a margin of over 150,000 votes in the parliamentary polls. The BJP has never won the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.
Both Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha are held simultaneously.
Despite Pandian raking up the Kandhamal riots, much of the riot victims as well as those who were accused of participating in the riots would rather forget the episode. For many, employment and drinking water are more pressing issues.
Shankar Pradhan, a tribal Hindu of Nilungia village, spent a couple of years in jail after being accused of participating in the 2008 riots. He was finally acquitted last year. “The riot cases took toll on our family as we spent most of our earnings on lawyers and bribing the officials. The riots were inevitable, but we have forgotten it now,” his wife Radhefula said.
In Dadda Padia village under Ratingia panchayat, Shravan Kumar Pradhan, a 26-year-old Kondh tribal, hopes to crack the Odisha Techers Education test scheduled for December this year. Hailing from a landless family, Pradhan worked as a newspaper hawker, daily wager and house painter to complete his graduation from a local college. Last Saturday, he went to attend Modi’s public meeting in Phulbani town, but couldn’t make it on time. “I like Modi because he talks of employment for youths like us and a strong India,” the 26-year-old said.
In Nilungia village, 60-year-old Kabir Nayak, a Dalit Christian, is unhappy over erratic drinking water supply and lack of jobs in the district. “My daughter-in-law has to walk at least a kilometre to get water as supply drinking water comes every alternate day. My son has migrated to Kerala as there is little work available here,” Nayak said.
In Katringia gram panchayat, most Dalit Hindus say they would vote for the BJP only due to Modi. “Now, no one remembers riots. We have been getting free rice from Modi government since Covid. The Naveen Patnaik government could have added more rice and may be pulses. The local school does not have enough teachers. I want a change in the state,” Luisi Digal, a local, said.
Emmanuel Rath, a local Christian leader of Kandhamal, however, said despite people rooting for a change, the BJD would again romp home in the constituency due to its strong booth-level presence. “Though the Congress candidate is a local person, the party lacks resources to take on the might of BJD candidate Samanta, who has got hundreds of tribal students from the district admitted in his university [KIIT]. The BJD winning margin would come down due to anti-incumbency, but the party would win,” Rath added.
