COMMENTARY The Plight Of Dalit Christians
By Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar, SAR NEWS JAMMU, Jammu & Kashmir (SAR NEWS) -- The secular forces have a field day and the divisive and communal forces have come a cropper. This is what the just concluded elections to the 15th Lok Sabha have overwhelmingly demonstrated. It is time for the Indian Catholic Church to call upon the secular forces to prove their credentials. There is no gainsaying the truth that the Dalits converted to Christianity in our country are the most trampled upon and miserable section of the Indian polity. They are the real underdogs of the polity. Their condition is much more pathetic than their counterparts in other religions. Conversion has not put an end to their misery and dejection. And their socio-economic and cultural exploitation goes on unabated. The Scheduled Caste Christians in general are being discriminated against triply. They suffer within in the wider society which segregates them and discriminates against them in social life. They suffer within the Church itself as in certain pockets where they are discriminated against by the Caste Christians including the clergy. Above all they suffer at the hands of the government as it denies them equal justice because of their being Christian. It does not even acknowledge their “dalitness”. However, it is gratifying a trend that the Catholic Church accepts its own failures in its treatment of the Scheduled Caste Christians and to a marginal degree has started taking measures to correct those failings. But the problem of the Dalit Christians is basically a socio-economic one, so it argues. When it is a question of a people who are systematically discriminated against and exploited for centuries, it becomes primarily the duty of the State to rectify that situation. The demand for reservation is seen from this perspective. Religion does not arise in this case. Caste is a part and parcel of the Indian society irrespective of religion. And it is purely and simply unconstitutional to discriminate against some on the basis of religion. It is definitely violative of Fundamental Rights (Article 14, Article 15(4) and Article 16(2) enshrined in the Constitution of India. There are some critics who opine that the Christian leaders did not fight for Dalit Christians during the Constituent Assembly of India debates. But the truth of the matter is that the Christian leaders did not ask for special assistance to Dalit Christians, though H.C. Mukerjee, a prominent Christian leader from Kolkata and vice-chairman of the Drafting Committee, advocated abolition of separate electorates for the religious minorities. The Christian leaders affirmed their faith in the Constitution and its promise of Fundamental Rights and did not demand special status, with the idea, perhaps, not to be looked upon as a separate entity excluded from the mainstream. This was their lofty contribution to the national integration which the successive governments in the country have been always losing sight of. However, a policy of reservations for the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe was adopted. But when the Constituent Assembly wanted to include only Hindu and some Sikh Dalits in the initial list of Scheduled Castes, Dr. E.C. Bhatty, secretary of the National Christian Council, protested: “We do not grudge special help to the Scheduled Castes. In fact we welcome it for their uplift and amelioration. But what we expect the government to do is to provide the same economic and social concessions to all those social disabilities irrespective of religion or party affiliations.” In essence, the special reservations of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe based on Articles 14(4), 46, 330-340 left out the possibilities of interlinking caste and religion. Therefore, the SC/ST following Christianity did not have any misgivings about the Constitution of the statutory and non-statutory benefits to them. Incidentally, Dalit Christians, as minority group of the Indian Christians, enjoyed such benefits till the Sovereign Democratic; Republic of India came into existence January 26, 1950. But the Presidential Order of October 1950(para2): “No person who professes a religion other than Hinduism shall be deemed a member of the Scheduled Caste,” which later accommodated Sikhism in 1956 and neo-Buddhism in 1990 into that fold but did not do the same to Christianity, struck a blow to the Dalit Christians and they were very genuinely rudely shocked. Now, it is time for the Catholic Church to rise from slumber and to go beyond its limited issues and take a very strong, positive, and clear stand on every issue whether it is persecution of the Christians or abrogation of Presidential Order 1950. The Church is required to be unequivocal and furious as well, if need be; to vouchsafe for peoples’ rights wherever those are impinged upon, wherever life is curtailed. To start with, it has to rectify the Caste discrimination and inequality within the rank and file of the Church and show her real concern for and commitment to the cause of the Dalit Christians. It is time to ask the Christians elected from any party to support the Dalit Christian cause in and outside Parliament. They may be emphatically told to negate the Shakespearean quote: “What is there is name?” Paying courtesy calls on the President, the Prime Minster and others are of no substance unless we advocate our cause before them. Let us take lessons from others. The Sacchar Commission is still green like an oasis in everyone’s memory.
