By Robancy A Helen

New Delhi, March 1, 2019: Church leaders have urged political parties to include in their election manifesto the need to grant Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Dalit Christians and Muslims.

The Christians and Muslims of SC origin are hoping against hope but would never give up their long battle, says Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak, chairperson of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Dalits and Backward Classes.

He was addressing the lawyers and other experts for a consultation at the CBCI Centre, New Delhi that discussed the SC status to the Christians and Muslims of SC origin, Feb 27.

“We have to get the natural justice as the citizens of this country,” Bishop Nayak said.

All the political parties are working vigorously for the upcoming general elections in May. In many states the votes of Christians of Scheduled Caste (SC) origin matter in elections, but the case in the Supreme Court for the past 14 years to include them in the SC net is still pending. In a democratic country, people are discriminated on the basis of religion. The constitutional rights are violated. Two minority communities (Christians and Muslims) have become victims of socio, economic and political development.

“It is crucial time for us to get the same right as others, politically and legally. We cannot let it go. We have to evaluate and see the results. These are the strategies to collaborate with the other like-minded people. This collaboration also includes the Hindu Dalits,” said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, CBCI secretary general.

The aim of the consultation was to appeal to the political parties to include the granting of SC status to the Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste origin in the election manifesto, so that they are not discriminated only on the basis of religion.

The Punjab High Court judgment reads, “Your caste does not change even if you change your religion.” So why then the Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste origin are denied reservation?” asked Bishop Mascarenhas.

The CBCI Office for Dalits and Backward Classes has already taken measures in three levels of advocacy, lobbying and litigation.

The meet stressed the need to prepare solid argument to prove that the Christians and Muslims of SC Caste origin are denied only on the basis of religion. They undergo immeasurable agony and difficulties since they are not in the SC net. They lose legal protection under the Prevention of Atrocities Act; lose reservation in job, education and political representation,”

“Networking with the advocates and their legal support will strengthen the case. We need to create social atmosphere to get the support of the people for this cause,” said Franklin Caesar Thomas, a lawyer who attended the meeting.

As many as 15 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court in support of the SC case from the Christian side. It is also necessary to coordinate with the Dalit Muslims groups who have also filed the case in the Supreme Court. The social media and mass media would help to propagate the cause, explained P.I. Jose, another lawyer.

A core team of the lawyers and the experts is formed to strengthen the argument for the case. An appeal to all the political parties will be sent from CBCI, National Council of Churches in India and National Council of Dalit Christians to include in the election manifesto of the political parties.

In 1935 the British, who were then ruling India, gave special privileges of reservations in government jobs and elected bodies to a number of low castes whose names were written down in a schedule.

These castes were not demarcated by religion and hence included people following various religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism.

However, in 1950 a Presidential order took away those rights and conferred Scheduled Caste status only to Hindu Dalits saying that no person professing any other religion than Hinduism would be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste. Then it was amended twice in 1956 and 1990 respectively to extend the SC status to Sikh Dalits and Buddhist Dalits.

Dalits are the group formerly known as untouchables. Christians and Muslims of SC origin have been demanding the right to be included in Scheduled Caste list since 1950. Christians and Muslims of SC origin were born in untouchable communities and still experience exclusion and stigma of untouchability. They are educationally and economically backward as their counterpart Hindu Dalits.

“Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are still denied this equal right,” said Advocate Thomas.