After the killing of Laxmanananda Saraswati on 23 August 2008, a Hindutva-led pogrom against Dalit Christians started in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. Till now, according to official reports, 39 people have been killed. Nearly, 50,000 people have been hounded out of their villages, their houses have been gutted and their belongings have been looted. When all this was happening, the Orissa Government and the district administration, to put it mildly, looked the other way and allowed the pogrom to continue for almost two months.