March from Kanyakumari to Chennai demands equal rights to Dalit Christians

Taking a giant step to drum up justice for Dalit Christians, church-related groups last week organised a long march in Tamil Nadu to reiterate their demands and further conscientize like-minded people on the reservation issue.

The 'Long March for Equal Rights to Dalit Christians' on Feb. 10 saw Christians marching from Kanyakumari to the destination Chennai where a memorandum will be submitted to the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.

The March - flagged off by MP Helen Davidson and which will culminate in the TN capital on March 5 - saw hundreds traversing through different districts carrying banners and placards that condemned religious discrimination and called for equal status.

Spearheaded by Tamil Nadu Bishops Conference and National Council of Dalit Christians, the March primarily demands the Union Government to implement the Ranganath Mishra Commission report that recommends extending SC status to all Dalits regardless of religion.

Additionally, it also calls for deletion of para 3 of Constitutional Order 1950 which originally restricted the Scheduled Castes net to the Hindus and later opened it to Sikhs and Buddhists, but still excluding from its purview the Muslims and Christians.

Fortunately, the NCLRM report was in December last year tabled in the Parliament after much lobbying by Christian groups. A delegation comprising of Muslim and Christian leaders also met Home Minister P Chidambaram on the same.

"We are fighting against this injustice from the past 60 years. Despite the Mishra report strongly recommending equal status to all religion, the government has been delaying our concern," said Fr Devasagayaraj, Secretary of Commission on SC/ST, Tamil Nadu Bishops Conference.

"With this Long March, we intend to bring awareness among people and goad the political machinery to act on our rightful demands. A signature campaign is also part of the March and a signed cloth will be handed over to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi," he told Christian Today.

According to Fr Devasagayaraj, more than 200 women joined the first day of the Long March in Kanyakumari.

The participants will walk through Palayamkottai, Sankarankovil, Sundaranachapuram, Madurai, Dindigul, Manaparai, Trichy, Perambalur, Vilupuram, Vikravandi and Chengalpet before reaching Chennai.

In connection to the same, church organisations on March 15 will organise a massive rally in Delhi.