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Orissa nun rape: Church officials plan to enlist Jayalalitha's support

George Iype in New Delhi

Even as the rape of a Catholic nun in Orissa rattled the J B Patnaik government, Church groups have decided to seek All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha's help to bolster their campaign against atrocities on Christians across the country.

The latest incident in Orissa has forced Congress president Sonia Gandhi to consider replacing Chief Minister Patnaik for his failure to improve the law and order situation in the state.

Pressure is also building up on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to direct the Union home ministry to set up a special cell to monitor the increasing attacks against Christian missionaries in the past few months.

Catholic Bishops Conference of India president Archbishop Alan de Lastic of Delhi submitted a memorandum to President K R Narayanan asking him to order the Vajpayee government to provide protection to missionaries working in the country.

"Attacks against Christians are continuing in the forms of brutal incidents like rape and killings. The government and its law and order machinery have miserably failed to protect minorities despite our repeated warnings and appeals to the prime minister and the home minister," the CBCI president told Rediff On The NeT.

He said the church is not bothered whether the responsibility to keep the law and order rests with the Centre or the state government. "We find ourselves in helpless situations as the Centre and the state governments have been passing the buck on to each other," Archbishop de Lastic said.

Church sources said top Christian leaders are planning to seek Jayalalitha's help to take up the nun's rape in Orissa with the prime minister and Home Minister L K Advani as the 33-year-old victim, who belongs to the congregation of the Daughters of Charity, hails from Tamil Nadu.

But Congress leaders said the nun's rape in Orissa has the potential to seal the fate of Chief Minister Patnaik as it comes in the wake of the gang-rape of Anjana Mishra and the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons last month.

Sonia Gandhi, who was touring Karnataka on Friday, entrusted Madhavrao Scindia, the senior party leader in charge of Orissa, to review Patnaik's performance in the wake of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

A section of senior Congress Working Committee leaders led by Arjun Singh have apparently advised Sonia to sack Patnaik at the earliest. The Vajpayee coalition and the Bharatiya Janata Party have squarely blamed the Orissa government for the poor law and order in the state.

Patnaik received a reprieve from Sonia last month after he convinced her of the strict measures he took following the controversial Anjana Mishra gang-rape case. The chief minister has ordered a judicial enquiry to silence his critics.

But the anti-Patnaik campaign, which is in full swing in Bhubaneshwar, is likely to shift to Delhi in the coming days. The party rebels led by Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president Hemananda Biswal have demanded a change of leadership in the state.

While Patnaik has so far resisted the rebels' efforts to oust him, Congress leaders said Sonia, who ruled out his removal on the Anjana Mishra case, is unlikely to pardon him this time.

"Pressure from the party rebels and the state government's failure to tackle law and order is giving the impression that Orissa is no different from Gujarat," a Congress official told Rediff On The NeT.

Therefore, he said, Sonia is being advised by senior leaders that the prudent course of action would be to sack Patnaik and appoint a new chief minister.

After Scindia briefs Sonia in the coming days, he said the party president will meet rebel leaders to find out if Patnaik enjoys a majority in the Congress Legislature Party.

OPCC president Hemananda Biswal and Deputy Chief Minister Basanta Kumar Biswal -- the two leaders who are at the forefront of the oust Patnaik campaign --are expected to meet Sonia and other senior Congressmen to dislodge the chief minister.

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