NDTV 

Bhubaneshwar, Dec 26: Indefinite curfew was imposed in several towns in Kondhmal district of Orissa and twenty people arrested, following attacks on churches.

Laxmananand Saraswati, who escaped unhurt has been at the forefront of the hate campaign against the minority community for the last 30 years. He told NDTV that the fight with Christians is over the issue of conversion.

"They want to convert people to Christianity and convert the country into a Christian Land. We are opposed to that and that is the source of all disputes and fights,'' said Swami Laxmananand, VHP leader.

At least a dozen churches were attacked by a mob, allegedly led by VHP activists on Tuesday. One person was killed and 25 hurt in the ensuing violence.

Tension was rising there since Monday when clashes broke out between some Christian and Hindu groups. The situation worsened after Christians attacked a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader in retaliation.

Twelve vehicles, including two police jeeps were also damaged during a VHP sponsored four-hour Orissa bandh, which evoked partial response, dampening Christmas festivities.

Violence broke out at several places as saffron activists ransacked churches in Baliguda area disrupting Christmas festivities with bandh supporters picketing outside chapels, police said.

Several trains were delayed and vehicular movement hit as bandh supporters blocked railway tracks and highways in Cuttack, Balasore, Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak. However, shops and business centres remained open and road traffic was normal in most places.

Activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal blocked traffic in many areas and moved in groups to enforce the bandh called in protest against the attack on anti-conversion leader Laxmanananda Saraswati on Monday, police said.

Meanwhile, speaking on NDTV's India 60 Minutes Verdict, Rev Dominic Emmanuel, Spokesperson for Delhi Catholic Archdiocese condemned the violence. (With PTI inputs)

Earlier report:

12 churches attacked in eastern India

Reuters

Hundreds of federal police were deployed in India's eastern state of Orissa on Wednesday as Hindu hardliners burnt and damaged 12 churches in communal clashes, killing at least one person, police said.

The reported injury of a local Hindu leader by a Christian group on Monday sparked two days of violence over Christmas in the Kandhamal district of southern Orissa by hardliners who accuse Christian groups of converting low-caste Hindus.

"The situation is tense but under control," said B.B. Mishra, a state inspector-general of police.

The hardliners, some linked to India's main Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have often accused Christian priests of bribing poor tribespeople and low-caste Hindus to change their faith.

Many of the churches targeted were makeshift places of worship, often built with thatched roofs and mud walls, local media reported.

Orissa, now governed by a BJP ally, has witnessed some of the worst attacks on Christians in the past, including the murders of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children who were burned to death inside their car by a mob in 1999.

Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified and oppressive Hindu caste system.

But several states ruled by the BJP have passed anti-conversion laws. Christians make up around 2 percent of mainly Hindu India's 1.1 billion people.