I will always champion the cause of the marginalised, says CBCI chairman of SC/ST Commission

Chennai – In an exclusive interview, Archbishop Malayappan Chinnappa of Madras–Mylapore, who is also the chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) Commission for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, has shared that he has dedicated his life to champion the cause of the Dalits.

Hailed as a “people’s bishop” and “champion of the Dalits and marginalised,” the 68–year–old archbishop said, in an interview with SAR News that he was always “optimistic” and he will “always champion the cause of the marginalised.”

“In whatever I do, whomever I meet, whatever I say, I think it should be something like the direct intervention of Jesus,” he said.

“For the past 55 years, we’ve been fighting the blatant injustices meted out to the Dalits – through demonstrations, rallies, meetings and submitting of memorandums. A memorandum demanding extension of the Constitutional provisions to the Christians of the Scheduled Caste origin was submitted to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh as recently as February this year,” he said. “The SCs belonging to the Sikh and Buddhist communities are already receiving a lot of help from the government, but no help is extended to the Scheduled Caste Christians. This denial on the basis of religion is totally unconstitutional and an open discrimination against the marginalised. If the government wants to be just, it should abolish special favours to particular religious groups and do it on the basis of the economic status of the people.”

Admitting that there was also “discrimination within the Church…discrimination on the education front, in the promotion of vocations to priestly and religious life, in the appointment of superiors to various sections of the community, and in the field of employment,” the archbishop cautioned that Dalits, who constitute 65 per cent of India’s population, need pastoral care and we should not deny them that care.

“We cannot turn a blind eye. Irrespective of the language or the ethnic reality, a census has to be taken and we must go by it and the existing ground realities if we are to render real pastoral care,” he said.

According to the archbishop, at the CBCI level, the main concern of the Commission is for the Christians of Scheduled Caste origin. “Some dioceses do not even have a Dalit Commission. Some people say they don’t want to show they are a discriminated lot. Even if there is a small number of Dalits, they must have a commission because it is their right and it is our duty to look into their needs,” he said.

“The Commission is trying to do that. We are asking for the establishment of Dalit Commissions in every diocese. We are asking for it in a peaceful way and the CBCI, the regional bishops’ council and the CRI are taking certain amount of care and concern. We need to go further,” he concluded.