In the NIC meeting, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik chose to remain silence over the role of Bajrang Dal and VHP in the recent violence in his state. He said that the Kandhamal violence was a conflict of interest between SC and ST groups.

Speaking at the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting in the capital, he sought to project a rosy picture of Orissa in terms of communal harmony even while acknowledging the disturbances in some pockets of the state from ’time to time’, for which he blamed ethnic strains, particularly among ST and SC communities.

Referring to the incidents of communal violence in Kandhamal, he said there were clashes between members of SC and ST communities in the past “on account of conflict of interest in the matter of land rights, employment opportunities and religion”.

“The recent incidents of violence in Kandhamal are a manifestation of such discord,” he said about the district where STs constitute 53 per cent of the population and SCs constitute 22 per cent.

Patnaik insisted that the situation in Kandhamal has been brought under control and a “gamut” of measures initiated to facilitate “harmonious and speedier” socio-economic development of different communities living in the district.

He said a special administrator of the commissioner rank has been appointed in the district to oversee the development of the area. The administrator has been given powers to settle long-standing issues over land rights.