page_title: Religious violence in Odisha
section_title: 2008 Kandhamal violence
hierarchical_section_title: Religious violence in Odisha / 2008 Kandhamal violence
caption_attribution_description: English: A Christian girl who was bruised and burnt during the Orissa violence in August 2008. This girl was injured with burns bruises during anti Christian violence by Hindu nationalists. It occured when a bomb was thrown into her house by extremists.
context_page_description: Religious violence in Odisha consists of civil unrest and riots in the remote forest region surrounding the Kandhamal district in the western parts of the Indian state of Odisha.
  The Kandhamal district contains several tribal reservations where only tribal people can own land. The largest community in Kandhamal is the Kandha tribe. Most Kandha tribal people follow tribal and animistic forms of Hinduism. However, the socio-economic and political landscape of Kandhamal is dominated by its second-largest community, the non-tribal Pana caste. The region is also home to the Maoist guerrillas, a revolutionary communist movement. Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda stated groups tend to recruit most of their leaders and cadre insurgents from tribal communities. He reiterated the Maoists's religious position: "We do not believe in any religion or are attached to any religious groups. We are not in favour of any religion."
  Major issues in Kandhamal that have led to tensions are claims that "The Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes Act" is violated.
context_section_description: During the 2008 Kandhamal violence, violence occurred from 25 August 2008 to 28 August 2008 between groups led by Sangh Parivar organizations and Christians in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. The started after the murder of Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati. It is estimated that more than 395 churches, 5600 homes and 13 educational institutes set on fire, demolised or vandalized during the attacks and more than 90 killed (largely Christians) and 18,000 injured and 54,000 displaced. Another report said that around 11,000 people were still living in relief camps, as of October 2008. Some tribals even fled away to border districts in neighbouring states and 310 villages were affected.
  On October 2008, a senior Maoist leader claimed responsibility for the murder of Laxmanananda and police officials also confirmed that the Maoists trained youth in the tribal community to murder Laxmanananda.
caption: A Christian girl who was bruised and burnt during the anti Christian violence in Orissa in August 2008. It occurred when a bomb was thrown into her house by extremists.
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