Jaiswal, the internal security minister, is learnt to have said the situation was “out of control”. He had been requested not to visit the district yesterday as it was curfew-bound.
Security forces echoed Jaiswal and said matters had gone out of the hands of the local administration. A source in the Rapid Action Force said the unrest had spread deep. Not only were the state police not acting, the source said, a senior bureaucrat on deputation in Kandhamal hid in the house of a CRPF company commander yesterday fearing the mobs.
“The situation is so bad that about 10,000 Christians are hiding in a hill in Kandhamal while the police are not acting,” said a senior CRPF officer in New Delhi.
At least 10 people have died in the state since Sunday as groups owing allegiance to the Sangh parivar ransacked Christian homes and prayer buildings after a VHP leader and four others were killed by suspected Naxalites.
A Reuters report said mobs armed with rods put up roadblocks across the district and others attacked churches.
People armed with bows and arrows and axes have attacked Christian homes, dragging out women and children. Hundreds have fled to forests and nearby hills, officials said.
“Moments after we passed by a Christian village, people set it on fire and everything was over within minutes,” a senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said from Kandhamal.
Patnaik met governor M.C. Bhandare and apprised him of the situation and of the steps taken by the government. He said free kitchens and relief camps were operating in six block areas, where riot-affected people were being provided police protection.
The Kandhamal clashes are primarily between the Kands, who are predominantly Hindus, and the Panu tribals, who are Christians. The latter are financially better off and are into several trades, including money-lending, sources said.
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