NCCI re-commits to abolition of caste on Ambedkar's birth anniversary

The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) on Thursday committed afresh to the abolition of caste in the Indian society while marking the 120th birth anniversary of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Paying rich tributes to Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, NCCI said it saluted the "memory of this great soul who challenged every human person and institution to transcend the evil and sinful ideology of caste as well as the inhuman and criminal practice of untouchability."

"The Social Action Movements in the country, and those within and related to the Christian church, owe a great deal to the Ambedkarite ideologues for its focus on and direction toward the historically disadvantaged and sociologically discriminated communities in India such as the dalits," NCCI said in a statement.

It added: "Indian Christian Theology is indebted to the philosophy of Dr. Ambedkar for invigorating contextual theologising, which in spirit and matter was essentially and substantially different from articulations that were based on till then available Advaitic-Dvaidic polemics and Gandhian principles of truth and non-violence."

NCCI further reminded itself of its commitment to the ongoing struggle against paragraph 3 of the 1950 Presidential order that discriminates amongst dalits on the basis of the religion that they choose to profess, particularly if it happens to be Christianity or Islam.

The ecumenical body condemned "atrocities and violations of human rights perpetrated and perpetuated on persons in the name of caste" and committed to "uphold the spirit of the constitution of India as envisioned and championed by Dr. Ambedkar".