Chidambaram Apologies to Kandhamal Riot Victims
On his two-day visit to Orissa, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said sorry to the Christian riot victims in Kandhamal.
It may be mentioned that in the wake of killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanand Saraswati by Maoists last year, scores of churches were burnt to ashes and thousands of Christians, tribals in particular, had to flee after being targeted by organizations perturbed activists. In the riots, as many as 38 Christians were killed in Kandhamal.
Now ten months since the riots, the victims have been living in different relief camps.
Chidambaram, while appealing to displaced Christians to come back, said: “I am sorry for what happened. Those who had done this will be punished. Please go back to your villages and start your life once again. I came here to look at your conditions. Centre and Orissa government will do everything to remove your difficulties.”
“You must be confident that you are safe…wrongdoers will be punished. There is a need for all sections of society to live together,” he added.
He asked the victims to go back to villages and said that the government would give them full protection.
Accompanied by senior state police officers, including DGP and district civil officials, the home minister visited all the relief camps in the area.
A day earlier, in another Naxal-affected district in Koraput, Chidambaram on Thursday reviewed the security situation and took firsthand reports of preparedness to take on red ultras.
Orissa seeks substantial support from the Centre to build its police infrastructure.
