By Purushottam Nayak
Mohana, August 11, 2020: Christians groups in India have demanded the federal government to grant Scheduled Castes status for Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin.
Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur, an Indian Church official, says Dalit from the two communities observe August 10 as a “Day of Mourning” to draw attention of Indians, especially the prime minister and Supreme Court judges to their 70-year-old demand for reservation.
This year, Church and other groups in India sent appeals to the government to amend the Constitution to include Christians and Muslims for the statutory benefits.
However, the coronavirus pandemic prevented them from holding meetings and rallies demanding the same. A national level webinar on that day voiced the concern for the delay in giving justice to the millions of Dalits.
An order signed on August 10, 1950, by the then President Rajendra Prasad granted statutory benefits to Hindus of former low caste origins for their socioeconomic advancement. Later it was amended in 1956 to include Sikhs and again in 1990 to add Buddhists.
The order now reads, “…no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.”
Bishop Nayak says the presidential order keeps reminding millions of Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste origin their exclusion from the Scheduled Caste status, purely on religious ground.
“Due to this discriminatory order, millions of Christian and Muslim Dalits have been suffering injustice and deprivation for the past 70 years. Their cry for justice for decades seems to fall on the deaf ears of our government,” bemoans the Catholic prelate.
A Writ Petition (WP No. 180/20040) has been pending in the Supreme Court for the past 16 years challenging the constitutionality of the Presidential Order. The appeals for granting equal Constitutional Scheduled Caste right to Dalit Christian came up for hearing recently.
“How long your lordships and honorables?” Bishop Nayak asked addressing the Supreme Court judges who have the constitutional duty to do justice, peace and development.
Father Ajit Kumar Nayak, secretary to the Commission for Scheduled Castes in Berhampur diocese, recalled that thousands of Dalit Christians from nine districts of Odisha last year observed August 10 as the “Black Day.”
Prafulla Kumar Lima, president of the Odisha unit of the National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC), recalled that a government appointed to look into the issue had recommended granting SC status to Dalit Christians and Muslims, but it was ignored by successive governments.
“We have urged the prime minister the Supreme Court to hear our plea. Why are we deprived of reservation privileges if we accept Christianity? We have every right to profess a religion according to the Indian constitution,” Lima said.
Meanwhile in Odisha, a 12-member delegation on August 10 submitted the memorandum addressed to the prime minister through Kalyani Sanghamitra Devi, a local level government official in Mohaan in the Gajapati district.
“I accept your memorandum and promise to put forward to the higher authority,” she told the delegation.