Christian Subversion And Missionary Activities - 3

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kandhamal and Bauddh districts were carved out of the Phulbani (or what used to be called the Bauddh-Kandhamal) district during the last decade.  There were about 75,800 Christians (constituting 8.8% of the total population) in the composite Phulbani District in 1991, and this number has risen to 118,200 (constituting 11.6% of the total population) in 2001.

While carving out the Kandhamal District, it seems care was taken to ensure that it  encompasses almost all the Christians of the erstwhile composite district. While Kandhamal has 118,000 Christians constituting about 18.2% of its total population, the Bauddh district has only 239 odd Christrians left in it.

As per the 2001 Census, the Scheduled Tribes constitute about 52% of the 6.5 lakh population of the Kandhamal District. The Scheduled castes constitute about 19% of the population.

Now, it is said that more than 60% of the Christians are from amongst the Pana community who are classed as Scheduled Castes.  They also speak the language Kui, the language of the local Kui tribes. Since these converted "Dalit Christians" are not entitled to the Scheduled Caste status, a demand has been made on behalf of the Christian organisations to get them recognised as Scheduled Tribes. Why are they so keen on this new tribal identity for Pana Christians?

Well, it so happens that the founding fathers of the Indian constitution and the leaders of independent India  were delightfully vague on the  definition of Scheduled Tribes, especially when it came to the crucial question as to whether converts to Christianity would continue to be clased as Scheduled Tribes. The large scale conversion in the northeast decided the issue by default in favour of the converted Christians. Now, it is very hard to find a non-christian amongst all those who hold positions reserved staatutorily for Scheduled Tribes, eventhough Christians do not even constitue one-tenth of the 8.5 crore Tribal population in the country.

There has been widespread resistance from the entire tribal population of Kandhamal to this disingenious demand for recognising Pana community as Scheduled Tribes. In fact, several protests and clashes have been reported  in the last few months ( See for instance the following report  of September 2007:
http://www.hindu. com/2007/ 09/22/stories/ 2007092252750300 .htm  )

Sri Padmanabh Behara, former minister in Biju Patnaik's Government who had to resign on this issue, is a Pana himself. he seems to have supported the Christian sponsered move for getting Panas recognised as a Scheduuled Tribe. The report below seems to indicate  that he has now rescinded from that position.


http://www.hindusta ntimes.com/ StoryPage/ StoryPage. aspx?id=4e25b356 -b3c6-4607- 9c28-2d4cd15e193 a&&Headline=Quota+ fuel+to+communal +fire

<b>Quota fuel to communal fire</b>
Soumyajit Pattnaik, Hindustan Times

Phulbani, December 31, 2007
The demand for reservation added fuel to the communal fire, which had engulfed Kandhamal district in the last few days. Under the existing rules, people belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST), who converted to Christianity, continue to enjoy the reservation benefits meant for STs. But the same does not apply to members of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) who converted to Christianity.

After conversion, SCs are deprived of reservation benefits. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, issued by the President under Article 341 says: “No person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.”

Of the more than one lakh Christians in Kandhamal district, 60 per cent have converted from SCs and they are locally called Pana Christians. But the Pana Christians speak the Kui language like tribal Kondhs. Because of this linguistic affinity with tribals, Pana Christians have been demanding ST status. They have based their demands on the Presidential Order of 2002. This has been opposed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) as well as some prominent political leaders of Kandhamal who bank on Hindu tribals to sustain their support base in the area. Of Kandhamal’s total 6.48 lakh population, 51.96 per cent are tribals.

The district administration is yet to make an official estimate of the loss caused to particular communities in the clashes. But preliminary reports suggest the Pana Christians have been targeted the most.

In 2002, the President issued an order, which mentioned Kui in the ST category. After the order, Pana Christians are demanding a correction of their Record of Rights (RORs). In the RORs, Pana Christians want their ST status to be mentioned, while the Orissa government is interpreting the presidential order differently.

Taradatt, commissioner- cum-secretary of the ST and SC Development Department, issued a clarification on September 18, 2007 to all district collectors. The clarification said, “It is a well-known fact that Khond/Kond/Kandha tribes in Orissa speak Kui. It will not be permissible to include all Kui language speakers as Scheduled Tribes.”

VHP state general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath told Hindustan Times, “If Pana Christians are demanding ST status because they speak Kui, there are people from general castes who speak the language. If speaking Kui is the only yardstick for ST status, it should be uniformly applied.”

Former steel and mines minister Padmanav Behera, who resigned from the state cabinet on Friday said: “Under no circumstances, can the Kui-speaking Panas be given ST status.”

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