Home minister Shivraj Patil will never know Motilal Pradhan’s story, or the fact that 346 Dalit Christians walked over 300 km through mountains and forests to escape the killers of Kandhamal.
Just when the home minister was heading to Kandhamal for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, a man of 38 was enduring yet another day of guilt at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) complex in the capital.
One of the 346 refugees who had sought shelter at the YMCA, Pradhan says he should have never left his disabled brother behind: “They showed no mercy. They burnt him alive. We watched from the fields as our brother, our house, went up in flames,” Pradhan recounts the fateful day of August 24 when the news that groups of armed Sangh Parivar men were heading for Christian-dominated villages.
The day before, Maoists had struck and targeted the Hindu ashram at Jalaspeta, allegedly killing Laxmananda Saraswati and his four disciples. It was here at Jalaspeta that the wave of anti-Christian violence originated. Like Pradhans, most families in the adjoining villages thought the rioters would come, destroy the churches and go back. No one had an idea of the impending disaster. “It was only around 7 pm on August 24 that we began to get feelers of a larger plan to eliminate Christians. We decided to hide in the banana fields and urged our paralysed brother to join us. He excused himself, saying no one would harm him given his physical condition,” says Ravindranath Pradhan, one of the deceased’s brothers.
The family of 14 watched with helplessness the gory end their kin met. They had no time to mourn him, as rioters intensified their search for missing people. In no time, the Pradhans were in the jungles around Kandhamal, searching for protection. For four days, they slept in forests, barefoot, sleepless and hungry.
It was only on August 28 that the first batch of 76 Dalit Christians from
Kandhamal reached the YMCA in Bhubaneshwar. Among them were children as young as one-year-olds and women as old as 65. “When they reached, they were in no position to talk or stand. All of them had sores all over their bodies. Children were especially tormented as they had watched their dear ones being burnt and their houses being destroyed,” D.K. Pradhan, vice-president, YMCA, today told The Tribune.
The YMCA authorities employed volunteers to counsel the victims. Anuradha Mohanty, whose NGO specialises in disaster-risk reduction, is taking care of women and children in the YMCA camp. “They are all suffering from a deep sense of loss. This pain will take long to go. We are trying hard to help,” she says.
Besides, every noon, the dormitory of YMCA resonates with sounds of worship. An hour-long prayer session is held to divert attention from thoughts of blood and death. That’s the only time of the day when they break into smiles. “Dear Lord, give us the strength to face this day, and the hope to welcome the next,” they pray.
