Dalit and Adivasi Liberation: New Agenda for the Church in India

The Church in India, for the past one or two decades in particular, is facing unpresedented challenges. Over the past decade we have gone through the experience of confrontations of various kinds in several parts of the country.

Draconic anti– conversion law have been enacted and the three States with newly elected BJP–led Governments have already put on the anvil their favorite legislation against conversion to Christianity. Despite the fact they are legally flawed they are going ahead with these anti–Christian laws for propaganda value which give them great politcal mileage in the uncommitted Hindu vote bank. With the general elections drawing to a close, the Church and Christianity will be heading for a serious debate – whether the Church, Christianity and Christians have equal rights of existence. While the Constitution guarantees certain fundamental rights to all citizens, yet, Christianity and Christians today are being threatened with disentitlement. For Hindu religious fundamentalists, this sport with the Christians is like the sport of the cat with the mice before the mouse is killed and consumed. But in this case of the cat and mice game, the results are reversed. The mice become stronger and multiply and the cat becomes only weak and tired. This similar result can be seen in the real life if the Church takes a firm and bold stand on their faith and become committed to the Gospel and the teachings of the Jesus Christ.

The need of the hour is the bold stand of the faithful. Not only bold but a new look at the call of the Church in India will show the Way and Truth that the Church in India must follow. The new way points to a tryst of the Cross with India's destiny.


Jesus unleashes the dynamic good news to the poor

Over the past three centuries Christian missionary movement spread among the poorest. the lowliest and the lost. Indeed, the Holy Spirit guided the Church in the right direction. This right direction gave the downtrodden, hope, in the background of hopelessness, to the large section of God's people caught inextricably in the stranglehold of religion, culture, tradition, social and economic slavery, escape from which has been well–nigh impossible.

Although the Gospel, spelt out total liberation from this slavery, the traditional stranglehold became unbreakable; hence a compromise for the limited liberation became inevitable. Thus a new community called the Dalit Christian community or the Adivasi Christian community emerged, only partially liberated by Christianity and partially enslaved by tradition, social power and governmental patronage.

The dawn of independence and the new Constitution, gave the downtrodden Christian community a new hope but the fair constitutional rights and privilege were mutilated by denying these privilege to the Christian Dalits. However, fifty years of relentless struggle ended us not in frustration but in a new dawn, new light, new direction. It suddently dawned on us, that the Church limited its revolutionary missoin only to the welfare of Dalit/Advasi Christians. We threw aside, a greater and more powerful mission of the Church consistent with the message of Jesus Christ, as reflected in the Nazareth manifesto, his own performance identical to the promise in the manifesto, his reponse to the skepticism of John and John's disciples and finally the criteria of the final judgement – from the beginning to the end, an unwavering consistency of commitment to "set at liberty the oppressed" not Christian opporessed only but all oppressed – the poor, the hungry, and lame, the deaf, the dumb, the sick, the naked,the prisoners – of society, of traditions, of false religions, victims of discrimination – those denied equality, human dignity and rights; indeed those denied humanity by the power of the unjustified authority and the opporessed constitute in this dear land of ours at least 25% of the total populatoins of 1.1 billion – all these segregated in dwelling places– with no water, sanitation and left to tender mercies of the opporessor for work, food, water and dwelling, 250 to 300 millions of people!

A paradigm shift in Misison goals – the reponse

To address the liberation of all the oppressed, it is a great challenge – not only a matter of resources but also it might divert the immediate purpose of establishing the Church quite understandably. Also it entails enormous risk of challenging the caste system of Hindu society, which is the bastion of power of the Hindu priestly caste. Such a confrotation would have brought the nascent missionary movement into head on collision with the powers of Religion, Society and Government of the Day. The Missionary Movement therefore ducked this challenge and confined its care and attention to conversion and the coverted community. Probably this historical strategy also became theology and missiology. Today, we are at the crossroads where we are presented with a new and historical challenge and opportunity. And, a paradism shift in mission objective is the response to this challenge.

Conclusion

India's real freedom and progress depends only on building up an egalitarian society including the Dalits and Adivasis. India's development while continuing to oppress a large section of the country's population is a myth. Norms of civilised society will not accept progress and oppression going together. Indeed, this is the time for our Church to play a vital and historic role. This is our historical opportunity to liberate lndia's society as a whole by liberating the Dalits and Adivasis. It is thus that India's destiny is tied up with the liberation of the opporessed in India. The Cross of Jesus to which the Church is committed has thus tryst with India's destiny. With the historical tryst with Destiny, Indian Church would have come of age with her own theology and missiology– with her own social goals and with her own national role.

– Dr. K. Rajaratnam (Director, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, and former President of NCCI)

(This is an excerpt of the paper presented by the author at the NCCI Assembly in Tirunelveli recently. The action part of the report was approved by the Assembly by a special resolution and it is reported that today the World Council of Churches has asked the LWF, Geneva to join hands with the NCCI to have a global conference on this issue outside India)