Orissa Christians to sue Hindu group for alleging 'murder conspiracy'

Despite the Maoists claiming responsibility for the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a Hindu extremist group circulated documents accusing Christians of a conspiracy hatched at Bethikala church in Kandhamal to eliminate the VHP leader.

Christians however have decided not to stay mum over the erroneous allegation, as representatives in a press conference called the claim baseless and even hinted of suing the Hindu group.

The documents circulated by the Hindu Jagaran Samukhya (Society for Revival of Hinduism) alleged that a meeting to intrigue the murder of Swami Laxmanananda was taken place in Bethikala church attended by 17 people led by Christian leaders.

In response, the Christians including Father Joseph Kalathil, Vicar General, Archbishop House here, Rev Fr Prafulla Ku Sabhapati, President of Bethikala Parish Council, Kandhamal and Prafulla Ku Nayak, General Secretary Bethikala Parish Council said, "We will file both civil and criminal defamation case against the person who made such allegations,"

The members of Bethikala church further alleged that the signatures and the content in the document were fully fabricated.

"Not only our signatures were forged, the contents of the document were also fabricated,” Nayak and Father Sabhapati claimed.

"We strongly condemn this attitude of the Hindu fundamentalist organisations attempting to drag Christians and church into the crime purposefully by fanning elements of hate to sustain the campaign against Christians," they said in a joint statement.

Last week, a top leader of the Maoist group for the second time claimed responsibility for the slaying of Swami Laxmanananda.

"Laxmanananda was not fighting for Hindus. He was heading the VHP and implementing an agenda targeted against the minorities," Maoist Sabyasachi Panda said. "No one speaks for minorities. They are exploited. The riot, after the murder of Laxmanananda, was a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar. Even without his killing, they would've caused riots to impose their agenda on the people," he added.

Speaking from an undisclosed forest area, the Maoist leader revealed that warnings had been earlier sent to Saraswati to desist from "spreading social unrest" in the tribal dominated district. "As Saraswati did not pay heed to our warning, he was killed," Panda told the reporters, adding that they have also issued similar warnings to 14 other persons, mostly belonging to the Sangh Parivar in Kandhamal.

Ignoring a claim of responsibility from the Naxalites for the assassination, the VHP has adamantly accused Christians. Their members indulged in brutal attacks that killed over 60, destroyed 400 churches and fleeing of at least 50,000 Christians to forests.

VHP and its organisations from long have been accusing Christian missionaries of "forced conversions", a claim that has been renounced by Christian leaders, who exultantly assert the various developments by missioners in the tribal belts, remarkably those in Education, Healthcare, and amelioration of social life, which has been apparently ignored by the government and its agencies.

The attacks have been condemned by the Vatican and described as "a national shame" by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Christians account for 2.3 percent of India's billion–plus Hindu majority population.