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Attacks on Christians were planned: MPs

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Orissa government came under attack in the Lok Sabha on Friday with the members of Parliament describing the attacks on Christians as “pre-planned” and criticising the administration for failing to protect the lives and property of minorities in Kandhamal. There was a strong demand for taking action against the State governments under the Constitutional provisions.

Initiating a discussion under Rule 193 regarding recent violence in Orissa, Karnataka and other parts of the country, Basudeb Acharia of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the attacks were planned.

Accusing the Orissa and Karnataka governments to trying to convert their States into Hindutva laboratories as had been done in Gujarat, Mr. Acharia said if timely action had been taken by the governments, situation could have been brought under control.

Coming to the rescue of the Orissa government, M.A.K. Swain of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the clashes were between two ethnic groups in Kandhamal — the Panas who were basically Scheduled Castes but adopted Christianity and the Kandhal tribals who fear appropriation of land from the former as they were educationally, socially and economically better off.

Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress said the Orissa, Karnataka and Assam governments seemed to have failed in exercising their duty and demanded that law and order should be made a concurrent subject.

Expressing concern over the violation of fundamental rights granted to the minorities in the Constitution, Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party said attacks on the minorities were more prevalent before the elections and called upon the majority community to take up protection of the minorities as their duty.

Describing fundamentalism as a form of terrorism, Devendra Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal also recommended amending Article 355 to empower the Centre to intervene in the matters relating to the States, particularly if it involved communal violence. He also demanded a 0ban on the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Targeting the Union Home Minister for not displaying the sense of emergency that was required in dealing with the Orissa situation, C.K. Chandrappan of the Communist Party of India said he should have behaved more responsibly.

B. Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) said whatever best could have been done by the State government was done to bring about peace in Orissa.

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