Mangaluru: On April 13, when 65-year-old Raimati Gond succumbed to a prolonged illness, her family faced more than just the pain of losing a loved one. They soon had to confront the harsher reality of finding a place to bury her body.This Gond tribal family, which had converted to Christianity several years ago, knew all too well the challenge that lay ahead. Like many other Christian families in Dumurimunda, a tribal village under Devgaon panchayat in the Raighar block of Nabarangpur district, they have no access to a village cemetery. Local Hindus, also belonging to the Gond tribe, had issued a stark ultimatum: reconvert to Hinduism, or lose access to burial space in the village.It took three full days of negotiations with local Hindu community leaders and constant petitions to the police and administration before Gond’s body could finally be buried, and only after the family agreed to carry out the burial on their personal land.Gond’s family has alleged that the district administration and the local police colluded with the Hindu groups in the village, further disrupting the burial process.On the same day, a few hours later, just 40 kilometres away in Andri village of Umerkote block in Nabarangpur district, another woman died. Manika Santa, around 56 years old, had been on dialysis for her kidney ailment for several years. “She was to undergo another round of dialysis just a day later,” her son Jagli Santa told The Wire.Jagli, who works as a farmer, shared that the situation in the village tensed up as soon as his mother passed away. “Her body was kept inside the house and we were told that we would be able to carry out the final rites only if we reconverted to Hinduism,” he added.Andri village has several paras (hamlets). In the para where the Santa family lives, there are eight more families who converted to Christianity around 22 years ago. When they converted, Jagli said, things were peaceful. “We belong to the Kondha Adivasi community. The village has both Kondhas and Gonds, along with a few families from Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. But religious practice was never an issue here. We coexisted peacefully and even participated in each other’s celebrations.”“Everything,” he claims, “began only a year ago.”The Wire contacted Tapan Kumar Khuntia, additional district magistrate, for his response on the two incidents. In a WhatsApp message, he first replied with just one line: “The issue has been resolved with the active intervention of the local and district administration.”Khuntia did not elaborate or respond to other questions, such as why the families had to keep the dead bodies in their respective houses for nearly three days.Later, Khuntia, still evading the questions, sent a longer message, which read: “Please honestly tell me, do you believe in hearsay? What community/religion do you belong to? Though the problem/issue was very sensitive, the reason is attributable to both the communities. I always sincerely attend to the needs of the needy people. Please get it confirmed.”Khuntia, in the messages that followed, still insisted on knowing this reporter’s religion.When this reporter reiterated the questions and asked what led to the delay in burying the two bodies and the measures taken by the district administration, Khuntia directed the reporter to Nabarangpur’s superintendent of police, Madkar Sandeep Sampat. Sampat has not responded to The Wire’s messages so far. The story will be updated as and when he replies.Jagli explained what Khuntia meant by “issue resolved”. “They basically made us sign a letter in which it was decided that the village church will remain closed,” he claimed. The Christian folk in the village, Jagli says, gave in. “We are just a few families. We are scared for our lives,” Jagli said.This is not the first time the Christian community in the region has struggled with access to cemeteries. On January 25 this year, in Kopena village, a church was shut down after opposition from Hindu believers. Since then, members of the Christian community have been forced to pray at home.In the same village, when a young boy passed away, his family could not access the burial ground. After significant opposition and police intervention, the body was eventually buried in the family’s own land.In March, the BBC travelled to Kopena and reported about the ongoing tension in the village. In the video story, an individual who follows the Hindu religion claimed that since the church was built closer to their deity, their deity was “disturbed”.Villagers say the demand is not simply to shut the churches in the region but also to force people to “return” to the Hindu fold. The tribal communities here traditionally did not follow Hinduism; like in many other tribal areas of the country, they primarily followed indigenous, faiths focused on worshipping nature – forests, trees, rivers – and ancestral spirits. Both Christianity and Hinduism are relatively recent phenomena in the region.Pastor Gourab Kauri, secretary of the Christian Minority Council in Nabarangpur district, says there has been a systematic rise in the number of such incidents. “And the saddest part is that those opposing us also belong to the very same Adivasi community,” he points out.So, what changed? Tukuna Khura, a local reporter who has been closely following the incidents for many months, told The Wire that “things dramatically changed after the BJP came to power.” According to Khura, the villagers feel emboldened because of local right-wing groups that have been interfering in village issues.Kauri accused Nityananda Gond, a BJP MLA from the region and cabinet minister for schools and mass education, as well as ST and SC development and minorities and backward classes welfare, in Odisha. “No one would take the law into their own hands unless they know they are protected by both the political class and the state administration,” Kauri explained.