The burnt vehicle at the Pastoral House

The burnt vehicle at the Pastoral House stands as a grim political marker of the Kandhamal violence of 2008. One among many vehicles set ablaze, it has become an unintended monument to organized brutality and targeted destruction. This charred remnant silently bears witness to the scale of violence inflicted on vulnerable communities. If this vehicle could speak, it would narrate countless accounts of fear, displacement, and suffering unleashed by Hindutva forces. Its presence challenges official narratives of peace and normalcy, demanding remembrance, accountability, and justice for those whose lives and livelihoods were irreversibly scarred by communal violence.