Christians fume over non SC status to minorities

Troubled over the delay of scheduled Caste (SC) status to Christians, the All India Christian Council (AICC) accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for failing to make a concrete statement.

Dr Sam Paul, the national secretary of public affairs, AICC, said, “The delay has frustrated the Dalit Christian and the Dalit Muslim communities. Numerous commissions and reports have shown that the Dalits, regardless of their religious background, suffer discrimination, both socially and economically. The delay in changing this unjust law is inexcusable.”

“The most recent finding was a report sponsored by the National Commission for Minorities and written by some university researchers, which found that the economic and the social status of the Dalit Christians and the Dalit Muslims is the same as other Dalits,” he added.

AICC further noted that the UPA government has received opinions from the Justice Misra National Commission on Linguistic and Religious Minorities (May 2007) and the National Commission on Scheduled Castes, both recommending the SC status to Dalit Christians.

Recently, a research conducted by the National Commission for Minorities acknowledged that, "reservation status for Dalit Christians and Muslims inevitable."

Professor Satish Deshpande of the department of sociology, Delhi School of Economics, along with Ms Geetika Bapn, who spearheaded the research says, "There is no compelling evidence to justify denying SC status to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

"There is a strong case for according Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Christians."

Finding the current rule discriminatory, Professor Deshpande construed that “whether or not such discrimination can be proven in a court of law, it will surely weigh on the conscience of every fair–minded Indian.”