Asked when he thought attacks by Hindu mobs against Christians would end in this remote part of eastern India, local Christian leader Ranjit Nayak replied immediately, and with a resigned smile.

"March," Nayak said, referring to a general election due in early 2009. "This is all totally politically motivated."

Like many Christians, human rights groups and government ministers, Nayak suspected hardline Hindu groups of organising these attacks in Orissa state, trying to win political support among Hindus over long-standing tensions with missionaries.

From attacks on Christians to suspected Islamist bombings, communal politics is back on the agenda across India, to challenge an embattled secular-leaning government as its gears up for an election against a Hindu-nationalist opposition in 2009.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to take the political offensive, campaigning here in Orissa state on issues such as missionary conversion, or convincing Hindus in other states of the risks from militant Muslims.

The ruling Congress, under pressure to ban Hindu hardline groups and get tough on Islamist terrorism, is struggling both to avoid alienating Hindu voters while also securing its traditional support among minorities, including Muslims.

The government held a meeting on Monday of the National Integration Council, a panel of public figures, to discuss communal tension, the first time the group has met since 2005. "It is not by accident that these incidents are increasing," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the council. "We need to collectively consider whether short-term narrow political ends are driving some of us to encourage forces of divisiveness."

Attacks in Orissa and bombings by suspected Islamist militants that have killed hundreds have dominated media and political debates in the last month. Muslim leaders accuse the police of indiscriminate arrests and even murders of Muslim youth as they try to show they are catching terrorists.

... contd.

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