The obscure jungle district of Kandhamal in Odisha – one of the least developed among 760 districts in the country – is now known all over the world. The credit goes to the poor but valiant Christians who embraced martyrdom like the ‘Early Christians’ when they were threatened with death to forsake their faith in Christ.
When the news of the Vatican granting green signal for initiating beatification process for 35 Catholic martyrs of Kandhamal was communicated by Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli Apostolic Nuncio to India, I was thrilled along with thousands. The Oct 18 ‘nihil obstat’ from the Vatican Dicastery for Causes of Saints has cleared the path “to initiate the process of beatification for the Servant of God Kantheswar Digal and companions, martyrs of Kandhamal” from the 2008 persecution of Christians.
Encounters with the kins of these martyrs and thousands of living ones who survived martyrdom changed the course of my life visiting Kandhamal 35 times the ‘holy land of India’ sanctified by the blood of heroic Christians over last 15 years.
Now the roads are clear for Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack Bhubaneswar Archdiocese that covers Kandhamal, to set the canonization process in motion. The first step is going to be the Archdiocesan council meeting to decide the date and plans for officially initiating the process. It needs huge planning as it involves as many as at a time seldom in in history.
How did Kandhamal achieve this unique status in the annals of Christian history even beyond India? In August 2008, the sprawling district, 200-350 kms south west of Bhubaneswar, witnessed the worst anti-Christian violence in modern Indian history following the mysterious murder of 81-year old Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati in his Ashram in Kandhamal.
Touting the murder instantly as a ‘Christian conspiracy’, the body of the slain Swami was taken across Kandhamal in a funeral procession for two days calling for revenge on Christians. Sangh Parivar outfits declared that Christianity was ‘banned’ Christianity in Kandhamal as it was a Christian conspiracy. So, Christians were ordered to troupe into temples to recant the faith in Christ, chasing them and even pulling them out of moving buses. The valiant Christians who defied, were even burnt alive, buried alive and chopped into pieces. Nearly 100 Christians were killed instantly while with over 300 churches and 6,000 houses were plundered in unabated violence rendering 56,000 homeless.
Young evangelical pastor, Rajesh Digal was returning from a convention in Hyderabad when anti-Christian violence erupted in Kandhamal. The bus he took from Berhampur to Kandhamal was stopped on August 26 by a mob that was on the lookout for Christians.
“Are you a Christian?” they questioned Rajesh. Unsatisfied with his evasive reply, they checked his bag and found the Bible in it.
“Christianity is banned Kandhamal because you Christians have killed our Swami. You have to attend reconversion ceremony and forsake your faith,” they told him.
“I have the fundamental right to be a Christian in this country. I will not come for reconversion,” Rajesh shot back.
Furious over his defiant response, they beat him. They dragged him to a nearby pit and made him stand in it. Soil was filled up to his neck and he was given a ‘final chance’ to recant his faith.
When pastor Rajesh refused again, they crushed his head with a big boulder.
Pastor Rajesh embraced martyrdom like St.Stephen, the first martyr of Christian faith, who had been stoned to death.
Tunguru Mallick, a Hindu youth, who was accompanying Rajesh, recounted this tragedy to pastor’s wife Asmita.
“Since the violence was widespread during those days, I could not go to the area. The body was not there when our relatives went there after three days. They went to police who refused to file murder case, asking them to find the body,” recounted Asmita with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Asmita shared her dreadful ordeal with me when I first met her in Bangalore at a gathering a dozen Kandhamal widows who had been brought there in early December by Global Council of Indian Christians led by Sajan George.
Though I had visited Kandhamal twice earlier, it was this encounter in Bangalore with the distraught widow, that got me sucked into the Kandhamal ocean.
The name of pastor Rajesh had not figured in the list of 32 Christians killed, presented by Odisha government to the Supreme Court.
Moved by the ‘injustice’ several widows had shared with me, I proceeded to Kandhamal for 2008 Christmas.
But I firmly believe “Mysterious are the ways of God.” The unforgettable encounters with the kin of martyrs and the unimaginable suffering of thousands of valiant Christians of Kandhamal haunted me and keeps inspiring me to speak up for the valiant Christians in the 16th year.
The political conspiracy behind this orchestrated anti-Christian violence has been elaborated in my nationally acclaimed investigative book ‘Who Killed Swami Lakshmanananda?’ and visualized in the documentary ‘Innocents Imprisoned’ released on the 10th anniversary of Kandhamal.

• Anto Akkara