“Never have fear of death when you are working for the cause of the motherland.”
Five years ago on the sacred day of Janmashtami, revered Hindu monk Vedanta Keshari Swami Laksmanananda Saraswati was brutally murdered in his Jaleshpata hermitage in Kandhamal during a spiritual discourse. In a gruesome act, the assailants pumped bullets into the frail body of the 84-year-old Swamiji and four others on August 23, the day on which Janmashtami fell in 2008.
It is important to recall that after the gruesome killing of Swami Lakshmanananda and four others, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had promised to book the culprits expeditiously. Two commissions of inquiry have been formed to investigate Lakshmanananda’s murder. Five long years have passed since the macabre murder of Swamiji and four of his associates. But the killers and conspirators are still at large. This questions the sincerity of the BJD Government in cracking the case.
As I was writing the piece, the fast-unto-death by senior BJP leader Ashok Sahu to press for bringing the perpetrators and conspirators of Swamiji’s killing to justice, reached day 5.
Before the murderous attack, there were nine such attacks on Lakshmanananda and it was common knowledge that every attack had a Missionary hand behind it. In December 2007, Lakshmanananda sustained serious injuries in a violent attack at Daringbadi, which is the centre of missionary activities in Kandhamal. Following the attack, several complaints were registered to enhance the Swami’s security, but they all fell on deaf ears. The Odisha Government did nothing.
On August 13, 2008, a threatening letter was circulated among the Kandhamal district administration and state authorities. A copy of this letter was forwarded to Swami Lakshmanananda. On August 22, 2008, Swamiji appealed to the District Magistrate of Kandhamal to enhance his personal security. But surprisingly, police protection was thinned down in the Jaleshpata Ashram. Local media had flashed the news that Swamiji’s life was under threat on the fateful day of August 23, 2008. The same evening he was killed along with four of his associates.
This was indeed an abysmal administrative failure by the Naveen Patnaik Government in Odisha to protect a social reformer from the tentacles of terrorism. But till date the Odisha Government has not given any explanation to this serious lapse.
Now, the question is who killed Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda is on record admitting that the Maoist’s of Bansadhara division had killed Saraswati. At the same time Sabyasachi had said that most Maoist cadre in Odisha are Christians. This points to a deeper Missionary-Maoist nexus.
Swami Lakshmanananda combated fraudulent conversion by Christian missionaries. He was spearheading the Goraksha Andolan (anti cow-slaughter movement). He was working for the socio-economic well-being of the marginalised and indigent in Kandhamal and thereby earned the ire of the missionaries who use charity as a façade for converting people away from their native faith. Hence the conspiratorial alliance of missionaries and Maoists in Swami Lakshmanananda’s killing is clearly visible.
“Never have fear of death when you are working for the cause of the motherland.” These were the last words of Lakshmanananda.
Swami Lakshmanananda was relentless in his struggle for the cause of tribal welfare for four decades. He sacrificed his life in the service of the poor and crafted a template for social reform. His demise created a void in the field of selfless social service. But his work will inspire the lives and times for generations to come. Let’s salute the master. – Niti Central, 28 August 2013
See also
- Janmastami observed as ‘Atmahuti Divas’ in Kandhamal
- Naveen going soft on Lakshmananda’s killers: BJP
- VHP demands immediate arrest of Swami’s killer
- Swami Lakshmanananda’s killers still at large, BJP leader Ashok Sahu on fast-unto-death
- Notorious Kandhamal missionary gets UPA’s Minority Commission prize – R.L. Francis
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