Caste system a barrier to social unity, says CBCI president

Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, the archbishop of Ranchi and the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) has denounced the oppressive caste system practised in India warning that it was a barrier to social unity.

"Though the caste system is not legal anymore, it still exists in practice and discriminates lower castes and those outside the system," Cardinal Toppo said, speaking to the reporters in Rome, where he recently attending an annual gathering of 85 bishops and cardinals with the Catholic Focolare Movement.

"As a Catholic tribes man who is outside the hierarchy of castes but yet has managed to become an archbishop, I receive threats by fundamentalists," he said, explaining the plight of the tribals in India.

"These people also can't accept the fact that I speak out and denounce the plight of Christians in the country," he explained.

Noting the rise in attacks the Catholic institutions are facing in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh on the issue of tribal lands, the cardinal said that the Catholic institutions were "being targeted and discriminated against by the authorities as other institutions in similar lands have been left untouched."

"Targeting of the Catholic institutions is a blatant case of discrimination by those in power and such discriminatory practices have no place in a democratic polity like India," he said.

"Catholic institutions in so–called tribal lands have existed for years and have only worked for the good of the society, both tribal and non–tribal irrespective of caste, creed or religion," he asserted.

However, Cardinal Toppo expressed optimism that in the midst of persecution hope floats and the Gospel will spread.

In spite of the rise in persecutions, "only truth shall prevail," he said.

"The history of Church in India is incredible, considering the fact that Christians comprise only a minuscule 2.3 percent of the country's population," he added.

In spite of the Church being beleaguered by its own problems, it "has stood by the people irrespective of their caste or creed through thick and thin," he continued.

"We should thank God for all the remarkable contributions of the Church to the society which would not have been possible without his grace and for being with the Church all these years," he said, adding, "We must do everything possible as if everything depends on us and pray as much as possible as if everything depends on God."

Officially, caste discrimination was banned when India gained independence in 1947 but many of the country's 180 million Dalits – lower caste Hindus once known as the "untouchables" – and 80 million tribes people (believed to be the largest number of tribes in the world) – say that the discrimination they face has remained the same.