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Orissa Riots Situation has not normalized yet in the riot-hit Kandhamal district of the state of Orissa and killing of another RSS leader have increased the problems of the state government and the police department. According to the state government’s official reports, August riots had left at least 38 persons dead and thousands homeless. But according to some unofficial reports these figures are just a tip of the iceberg. One official on condition of anonymity had told a private data collecting agency that he had collected and cremated 200 dead bodies of the riot victims from the forests of the Kandhamal district. He said that the death toll could be more than five hundred. It must be learnt that anti-Christian riots had erupted in the state after the alleged murder of VHP leader Laxmananda in which hundreds of people had been killed on the first night of the violence. Though Maoists have taken the responsibility of the murder of the VHP leader but the Hindus of the area had held the Christians responsible for the act.

Murder Normalcy was returning slowly and steadily in the district and the people had started to return to their native places after living for weeks in relief camps but killing of another VHP leader have renewed tensions in the state. On Wednesday some suspected Maoists had shot dead a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist Dhanu Pradhani of Kumbharigaon village of Kandhamal district. State police have denied the chanced of any link between his killing and the communal violence. But the brother of the deceased had alleged that some local members of the Christian community have played an active rile in his killing.

State Authorities State police have suspected the hand of Maoists behind his killing as he had been on their hit list. But Saffron brigade is taking it as another attack on their religion. His killing has sent shock waves across the state and has put a question mark on the return of more than 10,000 Christians to their homes. Authorities have issued prohibitory orders for gathering of more than five persons and have also deployed hundreds of policemen in the sensitive areas. Had government and the authorities shown activeness and taken similar steps during riots then the catastrophe could have averted.