By S S Waghmare

New Delhi: The National Council Dalit Christians (NCDC) plans to hold rallies in various parts of India to demand inclusion of their community in the list of Scheduled Caste.

The leaders of the council from all over India met in the past few days in New Delhi to discuss various issues affecting the community, especially reservation. They first met at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on March 12.

To press their demands, the group met political leader such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, federal Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale and parliamentarians Kanimozhi from Tamil Nadu and Vijaysai Reddy from Andhra Pradesh.

The Joint Consultative Committee of CBCI, National Council of Christian Church India and NCDC met March 13. It decided to conduct massive state rallies in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.

The council leaders also met CBCI secretary general Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas. A press release from the council on March 14 said Bishop Mascarenhas offered unstinted support to the Dalit Christian Movement and its demand.

The Catholic Church official urged the council to take the CBCI Dalit Empowerment Policy to the grassroots for its implementation. He also promised to write all bishops to press them to implement the policy seriously. Bishop Mascarenhas urged the council leaders to become more active in social and print media to educate the intelligentsia.