Christian churches rake up issue of Dalit discrimination

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News Bharati English    01-Mar-2014
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Christian leaders discussing Dalit issue

New Delhi, March 1: The Christian churches in India are again at it. They are raking up the issue of discrimination against the Dalit Christians and Muslims once again at international fora. The latest is their pleading this case and seeking more protection to them with a visiting UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Prof. Dr Heiner Bielefeldt.

Prof. Dr Heiner Bielefeldt who was on India visit till February 27 on invitation from the civil society organizations including the Indian Social Institute (ISI) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The ISI is a church-sponsored institution based in Delhi.

The meeting with Prof. Dr Heiner Bielefeldt attended by a number of church leaders, human rights activists, lawyers, academics, leaders of the Muslim community and representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, was organized by the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).

According to a news report of the NCCI, Dr Ramesh Nathan from the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights spoke about numerous forms of “untouchability” resulting from the caste system practiced in India. Nathan added that Dalit Christians are most vulnerable to caste-based violence but are not protected by the Prevention of Atrocities Act in the Indian constitution, which is meant to prevent atrocities against the scheduled castes.

The Indian constitution includes Dalits in the list of scheduled castes as the most marginalized communities who need protection. However when converted to Christianity or Islam, these individuals and communities are excluded from these protective and affirmative measures offered by the Indian government.

Haji Hafeez Ahmad Hawari, a representative of Muslim community shared at the NCCI meeting that his nomination to the national elections under the category of “caste with reserved constituency” was rejected because he is a follower of Islam.

Hawari said that he experienced discrimination within the Muslim community as well as in the larger society because he is a Dalit; and yet because of his religion affiliation he could not seek the position reserved in the Indian constitution for scheduled castes.

“Both Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslim are not considered Dalits by our government, and hence, they are denied affirmative action programmes that empower marginalized communities,” said Samuel Jayakumar, the NCCI’s executive secretary for the Commission on Policy, Governance and Public Witness, who chaired the meeting.

“We see this as religion based discrimination against Christian and Muslim Dalits in India,” he said.

Leila Passah, general secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of India also brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur the “inhumane treatment meted out to the Dalit community by the Indian police, when they organized a peaceful protest in Delhi.”

She said “the police beat up protestors with sticks as Christian and Muslim leaders marched towards the Parliament House to hand over to the prime minster of India a memorandum of demands.”
Fr. Devasagayaraj of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India reiterated that Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are denied affirmative action programmes that they are entitled to in education and employment. He too cited examples of the difficulties these communities face as they do not come under the SC/ST prevention of atrocities act; they do not have access to special programmes of the government for Dalits; nor can they contest in elections in the quota for the reserved constituency. Due to all this the development of the community has been seriously affected.


Around 30 people were injured in this incident and several protestors including church leaders were detained in the police station on 11 December 2013, according to media reports.

Bielefeldt recognized issues of discrimination against Dalits in India, calling religious conversion a test case for freedom of religion. He added that the right to equality has been denied to the Dalit community in India and they cannot be forced to follow a particular religion.

Bielefeldt assured participants in the meeting that the UN human rights mechanism will continue to raise these issues at their forums.

Meanwhile the World Council of Churches at its 9th assembly expressed its solidarity with Dalits for justice and dignity. The WCC expressed concern over 250 million Dalits living in South Asia in societies that define them as ‘untouchables’ or ‘polluting’ on the basis of their castes and religious traditions.

Through the National Council of Churches in India, churches have taken Dalit liberation on as a core priority for their ongoing mission. The WCC supports the churches' efforts to advocate for the elimination of this centuries-old discrimination on the basis of caste.

The goal of the WCC's Dalit Solidarity Programme is to support the Dalit struggle in India by assisting its internal organization and development, and raising awareness of Dalit issues within WCC member churches, international fora including the United Nations, and the wider international constituency, the WCC release said.

Concretely, it supports the work of the NCC India, the participation of Dalit activists in international events such as the World Social Forum, and co-operates with the NCCI, the Lutheran World Federation and the Christian Conference of Asia to build international support for the Dalit liberation movement.