Over a month after the Telangana Assembly passed a resolution on including the Boya or the Valmiki community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list, the Andhra Pradesh government last week pushed through a similar resolution in the Assembly.

However Andhra Pradesh went further. The Andhra Stage Assembly on Friday, March 24 also passed a resolution urging that the Union Government include Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Castes (SC) list, with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy saying that the social and economic status of people doesn’t change automatically just because they convert to another religion. The issue of granting SC status to Dalit Christians was discussed during the tenure of Jagan’s father Dr Y S Rajashekar Reddy. This is a long standing demand of the Dalit Christian community with the matter being challenged in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the Congress government of undivided Andhra Pradesh had also urged the Centre to accept the recommendation. Though both the YSR Congress Party of the CM and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) jostled for their votes, in the last elections in May 2019 they shifted they backed the ruling party.

Currently, a committee headed by former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan is examining the issue of quotas for Dalit Muslims and Christians. The ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), however, has said recently that the current reservation system should not be tinkered with and quota should not be extended to Muslim and Christian Dalits since their religions claim to be egalitarian.

Meanwhile, after the Assembly passed the resolution on including Valmikis in the ST category, Reddy quickly reassured other tribal groups that the inclusion of the Boyas would not affect the existing quotas. In Andhra Pradesh, STs enjoy six per cent reservation. The CM said the resolution was introduced to fulfil a promise he had made to the community during a padayatra he undertook before coming to power in May 2019.

The CM allayed fears that including Valmiki community people from Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur, and Chittoor districts in the list would reduce the quota of STs of the tribal agency areas as a zoning system is in force according to the six-point formula that was agreed between leaders of undivided Andhra on September 21, 1973. The formula was aimed at a uniform approach for “accelerated development of the backward areas” of Andhra Pradesh and to provide “equitable opportunities” in education and government jobs in different areas of the state.

This inclusion of Boyas or Valmikis may only have a negligible impact on Group 1 jobs that come under the non-zoning category. It becomes negligible as only 386 Group 1 jobs have been notified in the last 10 years and the six per cent reservation only amounts to 21 or 22 posts.

The one-man Commission of retired IAS officer Samuel Anand Kumar who studied the social and economic conditions of the Boyas in the four districts and the ST Commission also agreed with this assessment, said the Chief Minister. State government jobs in the zoning system and districts constitute 99 per of the total jobs and the STs of the tribal agency areas would suffer no job loss because of the proposed inclusion of the group.

“The biggest fear of STs is a loss of jobs when other communities are added to the group. The zoning system may offset the inclusion of Boyas/Valmikis in the ST list, it remains to be seen what will happen in other sectors where there is no zoning system,” said ST leader V Ranga Rao.

The Boyas traditionally supported the Congress but as the grand old party’s electoral footprint shrank after the state’s bifurcation in 2014, they shifted to the YSRCP, backing it to the hilt in 2019. The TDP government had also proposed to include Boyas in the ST list. After losing power in 2019, when the demand for inclusion in the ST list was again raised by the community, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter, saying the community needs help, and requested the Centre to introduce a Bill in Parliament.

“The TDP tried to create divisions by proposing the resolution but not implementing it. We have passed the resolution and will implement it. Boya community is now fully with YSRCP,’’ said Tribal Welfare Minister P Rajanna Dora.

Consequently, on February 10 this year, the Telangana government passed a resolution in Assembly recommending to the Centre to include Valmiki Boyas in the ST list along with other caste groups such as the Pedda Boyas, Khaiti Lambadas, Mali Saha Bedars, Kiratakas, Nishadis, Bhat Mathuralus, Chamar Mathuras, Chunduwals, and Thalayaris.

CM K Chandrashekar Rao, who introduced the resolution, said the state government had accepted the recommendation of a Commission of Inquiry for Scheduled Tribes in 2016 for the inclusion of the Valmiki Boyas, Kirataka, and other groups and submitted the same to the Centre.

Since no response had been received from the Union government, the Assembly unanimously resolved to recommend to the Centre to include the communities in the ST list, said the CM, reading out the resolution. Besides, he also proposed that the Mali community living in the districts of Adilabad, Komram Bheem Asifabad and Mancherial be included in the ST list, given their socio-economic conditions.

A comprehensive report on this has been filed in The Indian Express.

Related:

Why Should Dalit Christians not get Reservations as Scheduled Castes, Notice to Centre: SC

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The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) has raised concerns about the exclusion of Christians and even Muslims who originally hailed from Dalit and other historically oppressed caste backgrounds from Scheduled Castes.

In a statement released to mark August 10 “as a day to highlight and protest the denial of the fundamental constitutional rights” to these communities, the NCCI says, “When India became a Republic, we resolved as a nation to secure Justice, Equality, Liberty and Dignity for all our citizens. Members of castes worst affected from centuries of social oppression, the Scheduled Castes (SCs), were constitutionally assured special protection and affirmative benefits.” But Dalit Christians and Muslims were left out of the fold. The statement says, “Unfortunately, these fundamental rights have been denied to the Dalit communities converted to Christianity and Islam through the infamous Presidential (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. This privilege was extended in 1956 to Sikhs and in 1990 to Buddhists of dalit origin. Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims continue to be kept outside this privilege.”

According to the NNCI, approximately 70 percent of the Christian population in India hails from Scheduled Caste backgrounds. The statement says, “Dalit Christians have a unique history of faith experiences because of their caste identity. They embraced Christianity as a faith affirmation against caste slavery and these experiences vary according to regional contexts. It is not only common knowledge but also borne out of numerous extensive research studies that the Dalits are unfortunately still identified first by their caste by a large section of the Indian society. All their other identities, arising from their religious, regional, linguistic and other affiliations are secondary identities that do nothing to displace the severity of the caste-based discrimination and violence that they suffer.”

Tracing the legal journey of their quest for equality, the statement says, “Followed by the decades long mass struggles and advocacy initiatives, finally a Writ Petition (180/2004) was filed in the Supreme Court of India by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation challenging the Presidential (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. The Writ Petition is also looking for justice from the apex court to allow and extend the Scheduled Caste status to Christians of Scheduled Caste origin for availing special privilege in education, getting scholarships, employment opportunity, welfare measures, affirmative actions, right to contest in the reserved constituencies from panchayat, legislative assemblies up to the Parliament and for availing the legal remedy/protection under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes (Prevention) of Atrocities Act, 1989 amended in the year 2018.”

The entire statement may be read here:

Related:

60 Years Of Constitutional Rights Denied To 20 Millions Indian Dalit Christians

Dalits, OBCs forced to bury their deceased by the roadside

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Monsoon Session of Indian Parliament began on July 26, 2010. A million dollar worth question in the minds of Indian Dalit Christians is “Will the Government of India take up Dalit Christian issue this time?” The Supreme Court of India has informed on February 16, 2010 in hearing of Dalit Christian reservation case that Government of India is considering implementing the recommendation of Misra Commission.

“Commission for Minority Religion and Linguistic Minority” known as “Misra Commission” was setup by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government in 2005 to study and report on socio-economic condition of Christians and Muslims converted from Scheduled Caste origins. The Justice Misra Commission report was submitted on May 22, 2007. Since then UPA Government has delayed to give its consent that Supreme Court of India could give its verdict to 60 years denial of constitutional Rights to 20 million Indian Christians from Scheduled Caste origins.

The commission report has suggested to De-link Religion from Scheduled Caste and Dalits who, irrespective of their religion, suffer caste stigma and Scheduled Caste status to should be given all Dalits irrespective of their religions.

If UPA Government is not willing to give its consent as per the recommendation of Misra Commission, then why was the Commission asked to study the socio-economic condition of Dalit Christians?

The fundamental, birth and constitutional rights of Christians from Scheduled Caste origins have been denied for last 59 years. Supreme Court of India has been postponing the Dalit Christian reservation Civil Writ Petition for last six years, waiting for UPA Government to give its consent.

After constitutional denial of Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity and Muslims after the Presidential Order 1950, a million dollar question remains in the minds of Indian Dalit Christians “Will the Judicial system of India give justice to Indian Dalit Christians now after 59 years of injustice done to them?”

India’s 75% Christians belong to Scheduled Caste communities numbering to 20 millions, whose statutory and benefits available in Constitutional were denied after 1950 Presidential Order. The debate on Dalit Christian reservation is ongoing for many decades in spite of repeated assurance given to Dalit Christian communities to be included in Constitution Scheduled Caste Order 1950.

Background of Dalit Christian Reservation Movement
For first time, Indian’s lowest caste known as “Untouchables” or “Depressed Classes” have been identified as Scheduled Castes introduced by Colonial Government of India in 1935.

In the following year Colonial Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order 1935 specified, “No Indian Christian shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.” Since then any Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity lost its Scheduled Caste status, although they remain economically, educationally, socially and politically backward as much as before their conversion.

After India got Independent from Colonial power, while framing Indian Constitution the Presidential Order of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order 1950, the Scheduled Caste Origins converted to any other faiths or religions different from Hinduism has been left out in Para 3 of Article 341.

Dalit Sikhs protested and they are included in Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 after six years’ denial of their birth, fundamental and constitutional rights by amendment Para 3 of Article 341 in 1956.

Dalit Buddhists remained their birth, fundamental, constitutional rights of scheduled caste status denied for 40 years until the Para 3 of Article 341 was amended in 1990 to include them in the Presidential Order.

Every time Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhist demanded to be included in Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950, assurances were also given repeatedly to Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity. The birth rights of Dalit Christians have been kept suppressed for 59 years that too without any assurance either from legislate nor political heads.

Political and Legislate Chronological on Dalit Christian Reservation
The clause of Para 3 of Article 341 in Indian Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 clearly indicates “No person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.”

In 1950 upon the representation of Christian leaders for not including Scheduled Caste Christians in Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950, the assurance from then the Prime Minister and President via letter dated 7 November 1950 and 17 December 1950 respectively were given.

In 1953 Indian Central Government appointed “First Backward Classes Commission” under Article 340 of Indian Constitution to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within Indian Territory. The Commission submitted its report on March 3, 1955 stating that within the Christian society and church, those converts from Scheduled Caste origins are discriminated such as like not allowed to sit together inside the church, no inter caste marriages and separate cemetery etc. This commission’s report proves that although Christianity does not preach caste but practices it. If the Scheduled Caste Order 1950 is given on the basis that Hinduism has caste, then Christian converts from Scheduled Caste origin will also deserve to be listed in the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950.
In 1979, the President of India by an Order, under Article 340 appointed the second backward commission, which is known as “Mandal Commission” to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within Indian Territory. The commission submitted its report on December 31, 1980 that “conversion from the faith to another did not change the socio-economic status of a person. It was, therefore, desirable that converts from Scheduled Castes to Buddhism, Christianity and etc. should be treated as Scheduled Castes, but until this change was brought about by legislation, all such converts should be listed as Others Backward Classes (OBCs)” The Mandal Commission also stated that “though caste system is peculiar to Hindu society yet, in actual practice, it also pervades the non-Hindu communities in India in varying degrees.”

In 1980, The Minority Commission in its 3rd Annual Report 1980 in page No. 31 said that “The Commission has prima facie felt that since the Christians, Muslims and Buddhists of Scheduled Caste origin continue to suffer from social and economic disabilities even after their conversion, there should be no objection to their availing of the concessions admissible to them before their conversion.”

In 1984, The Supreme Court of India in the case of S. Anbalagan Vs. Devarajan AIR 1984 SC 411, said that “the practice of caste however irrational it may appear to our reason and however are repugnant it may appear to our moral and social sense, it so deep rooted in the India people that its mark does not seem to disappear on conversion to a different religion.”

In 1993, The Union Government of India included Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity and Islam in the “Other Backward Classes” in a resolution passed on September 10, 1993 by Ministry of Social Welfare for the purposes of the reservation on 27% vacancies in civil posts and service under the Government of India.

In 1995, A memorandum signed by Members of Parliament dated May 1, 1995 submitted to Shri. P. V. Narsimha Rao, the then Prime Minister of India, for immediate inclusion of statutory benefits to the Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity and also requested to introduce the required Bill during the current session of the Parliament.

In 1996, a memorandum dated February 20, 1996 and signed by 103 Bishops of India was submitted to Shri P. V. Narsimha Rao to include statutory benefits to Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity in Presidential SC/ST Order 1950 by promulgating an ordinance immediately.

In the same year, in a note for Cabinet dated March 3, 1996 Welfare Ministry had proposed to include Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity as Scheduled Castes in the Presidential SC Order 1950 to make them eligible for all statutory safeguards and benefits available to the members of Scheduled Caste.

The Cabinet approved this proposal at its meeting held on March 7, 1996 to introduce the Bill to amend the earlier Constitution Scheduled Caste order. Although the Bill was listed for introduction on March 12, 1996, it could not be introduced as some procedural lapse and new government was expected to assume.

In 2003, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India in its Annual Report of 2002-2003 in Chapter 3, the Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity did not avail all the schemes implemented for various developmental program for Scheduled Castes.

In 2004, Centre for Public Interest Litigation through its General Secretary and T. Franklin Caesar of Tamil Nadu filed a Write Petition dated March 22, 2004 under Article 32 of the Constitution of India challenging the Para 3 of Article 341 of Constitution (Scheduled Caste Order) 1950. More than dozen of individual and advocates have filed the writ petition challenging the same Para of same Article.

This case has been going on in Supreme Court of India ever since. The next scheduled to hear on July 19, 2007.Dalits Christians are at knock at the door of Indian Judicial system.

The Chronology of Supreme Court Judgment on Dalit Christian Reservation
There are several hearings so far on Dalit Christian Reservation after writ petition filed in Supreme Court of India apart from many dates of adjourning.

1st SC Hearing: April 26, 2004, the first hearing was called where advocates of petitioner presented and it was postponed on May 3, 2004. The May 3, hearing seems adjourned.

2nd SC Hearing: April 11, 2005 hearing was called and gave the order that “Mr. B K Prasad, Advocate, present in Court, takes notice for the respondent. Formal notice need not issue. List for final hearing in the month of August 2005. All the parties seeking intervention/impalements may remain present on the date the hearing is taken up. The parties who wish to file synopsis of submissions may do so within four weeks.

3rd SC Hearing: August 23, 2005 hearing was called and gave the order that “The learned Attorney General and the learned Addl. Solicitor General make a statement on behalf of the Union of India that the issue arising for decision in these petitions is receiving the attention of the Government along with other issues in a wider perspective and pray for hearing being adjourned. Both the parties pray for a fixed date being given. List on 18th October, 2005.”

4th SC Hearing: October 25, 2005 was adjourned with next hearing in the last week of November 2005.

5th SC Hearing: November 28, 2005 was called for hearing and gave the following order that the challenge in these matters is to the constitutional validity of Paragraph (3) of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Control Order, 1950. Therefore, investigation from National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities had been sought in the context of the ceiling of fifty per cent on reservation in terms of the decision of this Court in Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India & Ors. (1992 Suppl. (3) S.C.C.217). Supreme Court gave no opinion on the issues involved and gave order to wait till Supreme Court hears the matter in detail after the information is supplied. Court was adjourned with next hearing in third week of February 2006.

The hearings were scheduled on February 12, 2006 and postponed to April 5, 2006 then to July 12, 2006

6th SC Hearing: February 15, 2006 was adjourned with next hearing in the first week of April 2006 as Misra Commission delayed submission of its report.

Misra Commission called public opinion on extending Dalit Christian reservation. Two studies at Delhi were conveyed by Centre for Research and Development and Delhi University and one at Mumbai by Tata Institute. Delegations of All India Christian Council led by Dr. John Dayal attended all of theses studies. Dr. Dayal termed these studies as highly skewed studies with Brahminical personalities.

Social Scientist, activists responded to these studies that conversion of Dalits to any religion did not change their social backwardness status as well as educational and economical condition. They are same as before their conversion.
The scheduled of SC hearing in first week of April was further postponed to July.

7th SC Hearing: July 12, 2006 was once again adjourned with next hearting in the month of October as Misra Commission report was yet to complete.

Misra Commission report was finally ready to submit to United Progressive Alliance Government in month of October 2006. Dalit Christian went frustrated by delaying of the Misra report and when it was finally ready to submit to UPA government, commission was instructed to delay until Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is over in first week of May.

Since the 7th Hearing on July 12, 2006, SC has listed the case in many dates where times was sought by Learned Additional Solicitor General and granted to list for latest hearing on December 1, 2009.

The 9th listed on Dalit Christian Reservation in Supreme Court of India has given it order on February 16, 2010 that the Government of India is

The Recommendations of Commissions on Dalit Christian Reservation
The present Dalit Christian reservation case in Supreme Court has been referred to Union Government to give its opinion on giving Scheduled Caste statutory and beneficiaries to the Scheduled Castes origins converted to Christianity in November 2005 hearing.
The UPA Government has setup National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities under the chairmanship of Justice Raganath Misra known as Misra Commission to investigate the economical, educational, sociological conditions of Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity.

Enough Commissions before Misra Commission have been setup and finding have been submitted with recommendations that Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity still suffer caste stigma, socially oppressed and economically, educationally and socially backward. Why then another Misra Commission? What have the commissions before Misra Commission said; will that be note valid reasons for Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity to include in Constitution Scheduled Caste Order 1950?

Elayaperumal Commission (1969): Report of the Elayaperumal Commission in Para 32 says “The Committee found during tours that all Scheduled Castes who got themselves converted to religions other than Hinduism should be given all concessions which are available to Scheduled Castes. This is because the Committee found during tours that they suffer from the same disabilities which the Scheduled Castes suffer.”

Mandal Commission (1980): As stated above the Mandal Commission in 1980 supported that Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity be treated as Scheduled Caste as their conversion did not change the conditions of socially, economically and educationally.

Misra Commission (2005): Now the ball to give scheduled caste converted to Christianity is in the court of Misra Commission. Misra Commission will not find anything new but only charges from Sangh Parivar and affiliated organizations against Dalit Christian Reservation.
The Sangh Parivar’s opposition is not only Dalit Christians but to all reservation system for Indian Dalit communities. The Commissions before Misra Commission have given enough evidence that Scheduled Caste origins converted to any religions remains the same social, economic, education status even after their conversion.

Misra Commission Report came to its expire of term after submitting its report on May 25, 2007 with four members of five recommending to extend SC status to all Dalits who converted to Christianity while Asha Das – member secretary of the commission opposed. Asha Das opposition to the commission recommendation seems like to turn the ray of hope started dawning for Dalit Christians into darkness after discrimination of 59 years of their birth rights.

Union Government of India have referred to Misra Commission Report and yet to give the consent upon which Supreme Court of India is give its verdict to 20 million Indian Dalit Christians whose Birth, Fundamental and Constitutional rights have been denied for last 59 years.

Conclusion
After 6 years of struggle, Dalit Sikhs got their birth, fundamental and constitutional rights to enjoy statutory and beneficiaries of Scheduled Caste when Para 3 of Article 341 was amended in 1950 by including Scheduled Caste origins converted to Sikhism.
Dalit Buddhists got their rights to enjoy Scheduled Caste statutory after 40 years of struggle when Para 3 of Article 341 was amended in 1990 and Scheduled Caste origins converted to Buddhism listed in Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950.

Dalit Christians are kept denied their birth, fundamental and constitutional rights for last 56 years by abstracting their names from Constitution Scheduled Caste Order 1950. The constitutional denial of Scheduled Caste origins converted to Christianity is triple oppression.
The allegation not to give Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians on the ground that Christianity does not have caste, they why Scheduled Caste status given to those Scheduled Caste origins to Sikhism and Buddhism as both the religions does not have caste.
On the other hand, if reservation for only those religions that practices caste then Dalit Christians also deserve it because they suffer caste stigma among Indian society. Dalit Christians suffer caste oppressed before their conversion and now. They suffer Religious persecution from religious fanatics and constitutional denial of their statutory from Presidential SC/ST order 1950 of which I term the triple discrimination of India Dalit Christians.

Dalit Christians seeking to be included in Scheduled Caste status is the constitution, birth and fundamental rights.

Will Indian Judicial system finally give justice to 20 Million Indian Dalit Christians whose constitutional right was taken away by Presidential Order 1950 is the million dollar worth question

Madhu Chandra is a social activist and research scholar based in New Delhi. He works as Regional Secretary of All India Christian Council (www.indianchristians.in), Spokes Person of North East Support Centre & Helpline (www.nehelpline.net) and National Secretary of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations (www.scstconfederation.org).
 

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Photo credit: Two Circles

On August 10, 2018, The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), UP in association with like-minded social activist and NGOs organised a seminar on “Discriminatory provisions of para 3 of Constitution (SCs) Order 1950” at Ambedkar Mahasabha, Hazratganj. Lucknow.

 As per Para 3 of Constitution (SCs) Order 1950 any non-Hindu cannot be regarded as a scheduled caste. However, in 1956, this order was amended to include Sikhs, and again in 1990 to include the Buddhists among the scheduled castes. So now after these amendments, para 3 says that nobody who is not a Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist can be a scheduled caste.
 Thus, Para 3 of the constitutional order (SC) excludes Dalit Christians and Muslims from the benefits of reservation in the fields of education and employment given to the members of SCs under Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.

Dr Anis Ansari led the delegation of All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat UP to Sri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India at Raj Bhavan, Lucknow and submitted a memorandum for the abolition of religious discrimination against Muslim & Christian Dalits under para 3 of Presidential order  Constitution (SCs) Order 1950.

The president assured that he said he would get the memorandum examined as this issue is dealt with by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

“If there is no response from the Govt of India, we will continue our struggle till this discrimination against Muslim & Christian Dalits is ended. We demand para 3 of President’s Constitution (SCs) Order 1950 to be abolished & the benefits of reservation under Art 341 of Constitution to be extended to Muslim & Christian Dalits also” said Dr Ansari, President, UP Unit, AIMMM.

 The delegation included Maulana Zaheer Ahmad Siddiqui Nadawi Vice President AIMMM UP, Sri Mohd Khalid Vice President AIMMM UP,  Sri Tariq Siddiqui Secretary General AIMMM U.P. & Bhai Tej Singh National President Ambedkar Samaj Party.

This story was first published on Two Circles. Read the original here.

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The jubilation is appropriate, as Muslim women celebrate their salvation from the Damocles’ Sword of Instant Triple Talaq, or Talaq-e-Bidet. Mr Amit Shah has claimed credit on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his boss, Mr Narendra Modi, the prime minister. The two are arguably no paragons of gender virtue in life, but the pair had used, or abused, the issue of Instant Triple Talaq as a major weapon in their arsenal against the combined opposition, first in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, and then in the Uttar Pradesh state legislature polls earlier this year which catapulted the poisoned tongued godman, Yogi Adityanath to the chief minister’s throne. The issues of Triple Talaq, allegations of Polygamy, finally Love Jihad and the virulent beef campaign, polarised the Hindu vote. That Ms Mayawati had put up 100 Muslim candidates against the BJP, and the Samajwadi party was talking of a Muslim-OBC consolidation, made it inevitable that the BJP pick up every possible vote they could from the upper castes, and the neglected sub-castes within the OBCs and the Dalits.

The BJP, Mr Modi, Mr Shah and their cadres/batallions within the scores of Hindutva-inspired organisations, are no friends either of the Dalits or the religious minorities. By current count, the current year has seen almost a lynching a week. Church groups are reporting a case of persecution a day, from the breaking of Crosses, to the thrashing of congregations across a dozen states or more.

Jharkhand has now become the latest state to pass an anti-conversion law. Six existing states already have it on the books. This law is a political stick to tame friends and frighten enemies, with not a single reported conviction for a fraudulent or forceful conversion. To add insult to injury, the Jharkhand chief minister issued an advertisement at public expense mangling an old statement of Mahatma Gandhi to tell “missionaries” they were “cheating innocent tribals” to convert them into “rice Christians”. This mis-constructed statement will soon be the subject of several sharp criminal and civil suits in the state’s courts soon; at least one of them will be jointly filed by social activist Harsh Mander who is one of the activists currently planning a peace caravan through communally surcharged states, Professor Apoorvanand of Delhi University, and this writer.

The Instant Triple Talaq judgement, which manages to keep freedom of religion safe as also the rights of women to equality under the law protected, also forms the backdrop of another important writ petition presently in the Supreme court, filed this August by the 98-year-old All India Catholic Union, and this writer who was national president of the Union between 2004 and 2008. The petition raises important constitutional issues and questions the ruling dispensation for favouring one religion over others. Chief justice Mr. J S Kehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the central Social Justice Ministry seeking their response. The court and the union government have been dawdling for over 12 years on an existing challenge to Article 341 part 3, which gives the benefits of affirmative actions such as reservations in legislative bodies and government jobs to Dalits only if they have remained Hindus.

 Advocate P I Jose, our lawyer, argued that the RSS and VHP are capitalising on the delay by luring Dalit Christians to re-convert by promising them Scheduled Caste rights and other incentives.

 Mr Jose told the court that the rule should exclude “those Christians of scheduled caste origin who only practice Christianity and do not profess against any other religion being practiced by Indians as a way of life /Dharma. “It is important to mention that on the one hand the poor Christians of Dalit origin are deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of faith and worship, on the other hand large groups of politically and institutionally patronised narrow fundamentalist religious bigots openly come out with violent intimidatory programs like “Ghar Wapsi”  and other like programs depriving the poor Christians of Scheduled caste origin their basic human rights of peaceful living (Article 21)”, our  petition had  said.

Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (SC) Order 1950 amounts to the State identifying with or adopting the Hindu religion and through the amendments thereon unduly favoured it to propagate Hindu religion.   It is not in the larger interest of the Nation and its people to permit the State to indulge in a tacit or open identification with a religion, if not adoption and any such law is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.  

 Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar wrote in a Memorandum on the Rights of States and Minorities, in March 24, 1947, which he submitted to the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights set up by the Constituent Assembly’s Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, etc.: “Unfortunately for the minorities in India, Indian nationalism has developed a new doctrine which may be called the Divine Right of the Majority to rule the minorities per the wishes of the majority. Any claim for the sharing of power by the minority is called communalism, while the monopolising of the whole power by the majority is called nationalism. Guided by such political philosophy the majority is not prepared to allow the minorities to share political power.”
 
 
 

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The Supreme Court has, one again, sought the Centre’s response on a plea by Dalit Christians seeking parity in quota with their counterparts among the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist communities. On Monday, August 21, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud issued that notice. (http://www.newsonair.com/news.asp?cat=national&id=NN13425)

The SC bench was hearing the plea filed by All India Catholic Union (AICU) challenging the validity of paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, which says no person who professes a religion different from Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. This is a long-standing issue before the Court on which a Constitutional bench is supposed to decide.The plea has sought inclusion of Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Caste category for enabling them to get benefits of reservation under the Constitution.

Background:

The matter has been agitated before the Supreme Court of India where it has been hanging for more than a decade. It has since been transferred to a constitutional bench, which is still to be set up. The government is yet to tell its mind to the court, though senior ministers of the NDA have made clear, (including finance minister Jaitley)  that no one who is not of the “indict Faith’ will get the benefits.

Intervening in the Constitutional Day Debate, on November 26, 2014, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley argued vehemently against appointing Scheduled Caste status to Muslims and Christians of the same category. This stance of a senior member of this government flies in the face of the recommendations of the Ranganath Misra National Commission Report on Linguistic and Religious Minorities(2007) tabled in Parliament only in 2009. This will also adversely affect the long standing movement for justice for Dalit Christians and pasmanda Muslims. A Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court is also slated to adjudicate the matter of amending the Constitutional Order, 1950.  An executive summary of the report had been published by Communalism Combat in April 2010. This summary can be read here ( https://sabrangindia.in/sabrangthemes/looking-ahead)

Former Chief Justice Ranganath Misra’s report is crucial evidence before the court, and the religious minorities have set much hope by it. The Misra panel report, which was tabled in Parliament December 18, 2009, has defined religious and linguistic minorities as backward classes and recommended 15 percent reservation for all minorities in jobs, education and welfare schemes.

According to an IANS report, India’s then (2009) 1.2 billion population, Muslims form the largest minority at close to 14 per cent, followed by Christians at 2.3 per cent, Sikhs at 1.9 per cent, Buddhists at 0.8 per cent, Jains at 0.4 per cent and others including Parsis at 0.6 per cent. “Within the recommended 15 per cent earmarked seats in institutions shall be 10 per cent for the Muslims and the remaining 5 per cent for the other minorities,” the report had said.

The Commission, inter alia, made recommendations to give 15 percent reservation to minorities under Backward Class quota in education, government employment and social welfare schemes. Out of this 15 percent reservation, 10 percent reservation has been recommended to the Muslim Community and remaining 5 percent to other minority communities. The Commission has further recommended to include convert Dalit Christian and Dalit Muslims in the list of Scheduled Castes. (https://sabrangindia.in/article/alien%E2%80%99s-letter-new-president-elect)

Politically for the BJP and RSS, inclduing the Dalits within it, the core issue is that of representation within electoral politics. Once, and if Dalit Muslims and Christians get recognised as such and get the benefit of reservations in this this category, they will be eligible for contesting elections from village Panchayats to the LokSabha. If the government accepts Ramnath Mishra Commission recommendations, the convert Christians and Muslims would become eligible to contest on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. Thus, the people of Scheduled Castes would have to share their reservation in government jobs and political fields with convert Christians and Muslims.

And therein lies the rub. Or the resistance.

Related Articles:
1. Dialogue with the Deaf
2. Government Unjust

The post Why Should Dalit Christians not get Reservations as Scheduled Castes, Notice to Centre: SC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
A recent news report (‘Now, RSS plans to launch a Christian outfit’; The Times of India, January 4, 2016) has taken the Christian community in India by storm. The report quotes Indresh Kumar, senior pracharak, member of the national executive and margdarshak (guide) of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch as saying: “On December 17, 4-5 Archbishops, 40-50 Reverend Bishops from across 10 to 12 states met and it was decided to build a movement. This is preparing the ground to lay the seeds for an organisation.” According to the report, the proposed organisation, likely to be named Rashtriya Isai Manch, is to work along the lines of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch. The supposed aim is to build “goodwill” among India’s Christians.
 
The report also mentions that while addressing a Christmas celebration organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in December, Union home minister, Rajnath Singh assured Christians that he would not let any "injustice" happen to them. Singh added that he was deeply hurt by the attacks on churches in the year before. This was followed a few days later by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley hosting clergy and professionals from the Christian community at a gathering which was attended, among others, by Cardinal Oswal Gracias, who is a member of Pope Francis' advisory council.

In short, Indian Christians are being wooed simultaneously by the RSS and top ministers in the government led by Narendra Modi, the sangh parivar’s preferred candidate for the the prime ministerial chair. It is curious, to say the least, that the man chosen by the RSS to be the face of the proposed Christian outfit, Kumar, is the same person who stands accused of instigating the most widespread and vicious anti-Christian violence in 300 years – Kandhamal, Odisha during 2007-08 and whose name has also figured in ‘saffron terror’ cases.
 
What’s going on here? Why this sudden love and affection for a community which has been demonised and repetedly targeted, especially since the late 1990s? Is this a fresh RSS hoax or a case of naivete among a few church members? How does RSS propose “to build bridges of goodwill with the Christian community”? What, if any, was the outcome of the several dialogues with the Church in the recent past? Does RSS have some hidden agenda behind such dialogues? How does the Church respond to the idea of an RSS-inspired Christian outfit? While the top Church leadership is yet to respond to the proposal of launching an RSS-friendly Christian outfit, let us try to understand what is behind the proposed launching of this outfit and the possible options before the Church.

The series of attacks on adivasi Christians in Gujarat in 1998 rattled and unnerved the peace-loving Christian community in India. The Church leadership did not know how to respond to these diabolical attacks. The Church leaders’ prime concern for the protection of the members forced them to have direct talks with the leaders of the perpetrators rather than the state actors (the latter, in many cases, were hand-in-glove with the former).

 
Talking peace with the bully
The Church in India has and continues to contribute to nation building, especially in the sphere of education and health care of the marginalised groups. The Church’s humanitarian response to all disasters, whether man-made or natural, remains unparallelled. Yet, in recent years the sangh parivar has repeatedly targeted the community with hate campaigns, physical attacks and intimidation, questioned the intention behind the services provided by the Church for the marginalised groups as never before.
 
The series of attacks on adivasi Christians in Gujarat in 1998 rattled and unnerved the peace-loving Christian community in India. The Church leadership did not know how to respond to these diabolical attacks. The Church leaders’ prime concern for the protection of the members forced them to have direct talks with the leaders of the perpetrators rather than the state actors (the latter, in many cases, were hand-in-glove with the former).
 
Thus began the story of dialogue between Church groups and the sangh parivar in December 1998. Those who participated in the first conference included the then BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, RSS joint general secretary KS Sudershan, BJP general secretary Narendra Modi on one hand and Catholic Bishops Conference of India president Archbishop Alan de Lastic of Delhi, Archbishop Aruldas James of Madras, Evangelical Fellowship of India general secretary Richard Howell, the Church of North India's Sushma Ramaswamy, All-India Association of Christian Higher Education director Mani Jacob, Indian Social Institute director Father Ambrose Pinto and All-India Catholic Union national secretary John Dayal on the other.
 
A vicious cycle
Archbishop Alan De Lastic who led the first dialogue with the BJP-RSS for the protection of the community was quick to realise the futility of the talks. At a meeting immediately after the dialogue, he told the then home minister LK Advani: “The dialogues with the sangh parivar would serve no purpose unless there was an immediate end to the physical and verbal violence against the community, particularly in Gujurat”. “What I have noticed is that ever since this government (BJP-led NDA) came to power at the Centre, the attacks on the Christians and Christian missionaries have increased,” he added.
 
Of equal concern was the NDA government's wilful refusal to condemn the violence, the fact that as home minister Advani was not living up to his oath of office (do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will). But the official response was: “There is no law and order problem in Gujarat”. Alan de Lastic’s untimely car accident in Poland in June 2000 left a void.
 
The chart below clearly shows how dialogues between the Church and the sangh parivar have not resulted in any let up in the attacks against Christians:
 

 
As indicated above, dialogue after dialogue continued over the years at different levels. But it meant nothing for the Christian community which was under relentless attack even, as the RSS laid claim to ongoing dialogues with the Church. Chaos was evident among the Church groups as some unknown faces with varied interest holding dialogues with the RSS and claiming positive outcomes. But for the RSS, it was simply a joy ride. Meeting a few self-serving individuals/fronts and Church associates at different locations, billing them as Church-RSS meets were too part of their strategies. The only use of these dialogues was to lend credence to the pretence of BJP leaders in government that the attacks on Christians were the handiwork of anti-social elements unrelated to the sangh parivar. As the dialogue drama unfolded, Christians who had participated in them despite their reluctance and apprehensions realised that the RSS was not at all serious and that it could not meet the community expectations.
 
In 2002, the Kerala Council of Churches, affiliated to the National Council of Churches of India (NCCI), urged its parent body to reassess the process of dialogue. “The strategy adopted by the RSS for a dialogue with churches, the committee observed, “appeared to be intended to divide the churches”.
 
A year earlier, Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius, president, Ecumenical Study and Dialogue Centre flayed the move for a dialogue between the CBCI-NCCI and the RSS arguing that those entering into a dialogue with the RSS were only weakening their credibility to speak on behalf of the Christian community.
 
Seeing through the hidden agenda
Fr. Ambrose Pinto, former director of Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, one of the delegates for the first-ever meeting between top Church and RSS leaders held in 1998 sees the future of any further Church-RSS meet thus: “First of all, we need to know:  a) what RSS stands for, b) why is the RSS saying what it is saying? c) the difference between its propaganda and facts, and d) in case Christians join them, do those Christians represent us? Understanding the nature of the fascist organisation, we should resist them as a community in solidarity with the prople of goodwill”. Would he like to be part of any future dialogue? “I was a reluctant participant. I did not want to be there. Even at that meet, I was one of those who spoke against their designs. I shall never join any kind of dailogue with RSS. You cannot dialogue with fascists”.
 
Says John Dayal, one of the delegates for the first Church-RSS dialogue: “To the parivar, there is only one mantra. Stop Conversions, and everything will end. To the sangh parivar, a dialogue is a monologue in which it speaks its mind, and the other has to take it or lump it. After all, Christianity is all about dialogue, both within the church and outside. Parivar spokespersons keep on repeating the same old manufactured lies like a Goebblesian zombie. If any single community, Sikh or Christian or Muslim, thinks it can reach a bilateral peace with the sangh parivar, it is only deceiving itself, and allowing the parivar to buy time”.
 
As the above chart shows for the RSS dialogue was mere pretense. The dialogues were punctuated with increasing violence year after year. The worst ever violence against Christians in India in 300 years was in Orissa in 2007-08 which continued unabated for over four months. It took nearly four years for the displaced adivasi and dalit Christians to return to their homes; even today there are several villagers where the forcibly displaced are not able to return eight years after the carnage.

The only use of these dialogues was to lend credence to the pretence of BJP leaders in government that the attacks on Christians were the handiwork of anti-social elements unrelated to the sangh parivar. As the dialogue drama unfolded, Christians who had participated in them despite their reluctance and apprehensions realised that the RSS was not at all serious and that it could not meet the community expectations.
 
While the dialogue was underway, the sangh parivar stepped up its hate campaign and violence against the Christian community. It is important to reflect why the earlier dialogues have failed to yield results. What are the issues that the RSS and the Church bring to the table? The RSS is quite clear about its agenda as has been articulated both in words (media) and actions (violence). As for the Church, it is still debatable whether it does or does not want any further dialogue. If yes, for what purpose and towards what end?
 
No one should be confused about what the RSS stands. There are certain key issues on which the sangh parivar’s stand is consistent and clear. The real agenda behind the so-called dialogue it seeks with Christians is to browbeat the community into meekly concurring with its ‘non-negotiable’ stands on these issues. These are repeatedly articulated through its mouthpiece, the Organiser. Here below are just a few examples:
 
Hindutva on conversions: ‘anti-national’ act
 

• Ram Madhav, spokesperson of RSS and general secretary of BJP calls for dismantling the evangelical establishment in the Organiser, November 2, 2008)

 
“Evangelists are subverting Indian culture… conversion, especially in tribal areas, leads to demographic disturbances which in turn lead to resentment and violence.”

• (Late) MV Kamath, sangh parivar ideologue in the Organiser, November 2, 2008.

 
“Conversion is an act of violence… Religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence and it breeds violence.”

• Swami Dayanand Saraswati in an ‘Open Letter’ to Pope John Paul II in the Organiser, October 1999.

 
“Conversions ban [are] a national necessity… Conversions are resorted to for political reasons and not for faith. There is, therefore, absolute justification for imposing a ban on free conversions. Lawlessness in India has taken place whenever the governments have failed the people to satisfy their legitimate feelings”.

• Swami Asangananda Bharati, director, Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, in the Organiser, January 9, 2005.

 
“They went away (to other religion) because of some allurement and thus there is nothing wrong in bringing them back to original fold… It is like a thief who steals our valuables. The thief is caught and we will get our valuables back. They are ours.”

• RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat, in The Hindu, December 21, 2014.

 
“Is conversion necessary? Will any country allow changes in its demographic character?”

•  Union home minister, Rajnath Singh signalling the central government’s willingness for an anti-conversion law, PIB release, March 23, 2015.

 
“An aggressive campaign is required for ghar wapsi of those Hindus who had converted to other religions in the past.”

• BJP’s Lok Sabha MP, Yogi Adityanath, at a conference ‘Dharmantaran Rashtranataran Hai’ (Religious conversion is the same as change of nationality) at Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur. It was announced that BJP MPs Yogi Adityanath and Tarun Vijay will introduce private member bills in the the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively to stop religious conversions and debate the issue in next session of the Parliament, in The Indian Express, September 27, 2015.

 
Hindutva on affirmative action for minorities: vehement opposition
 
The denial of justice to the Dalit Christians and Muslims goes against the letter and spirit of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 25 of the Constitution of India on equal justice, equal opportunities and freedom of religion. Both Ranganath Mishra Commission and Sachar Committee reports address the anamoly in denying reservation meant for Scheduled Castes to Christian and Muslim Dalits. The sangh parivar however remains vehemently opposed to any affirmative action, as is evident from the writings and statements of its leaders, spokespersons and ideologues:
 
“The Ranganath Misra Commission’s report is… a sinister, treasonous conspiracy… it is the UPA’s gift to the Vatican and the Pakistani-Arab sponsors of jehad. It is on the verge of capitulating to a notorious paedophile organisation, masquerading as a religious dispensation and the licentious, Islamist criminals enthroned by the British… For quite sometime now Christian evangelists and Islamist jehadis have been working overtime to subvert the Indian judiciary. They want to disempower it and for real decision-making authority to reside with suborned politicians ready to facilitate the rapid ensnaring of Indian society… If reservations (for Scheduled Castes) are extended to Christians and Muslims a no-holds-barred campaign of bribery and chicanery will commence to entice underprivileged Hindus into their political fold. At present Hindus are harder to lure because Hindu society legislated reservations to help them overcome historic disadvantages. The Islamo-Christian calculation is that an extraordinary opportunity to finish Hindus off is at hand”.

• Dr. Gautam Sen, member, steering committee, World Hindu Economics Forum; president, World Association of Hindu Academicians in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“If perverted reports like those of Justices like Sachar and Ranganath Misra indulge in travesty of justice, who will save the law of the motherland? Ours is a nation governed by the will of the people. These justices may come and go, the nation is inexorably an essential unity, adhering to only one global ethic – dharma.  Sachar and Ranganath Misra have done a signal disservice to the integrity and unity of the nation by promoting a sectarian view, which will not achieve an integrally developed Bharat with equal opportunities for everyone to realise his or her full potential”.

• Dr S Kalyanaraman, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“Minorities cannot ask for caste quotas. If either Christians or Muslims accept and practice caste discrimination amongst themselves, the conversion process among such groups or individuals should be legally declared to be inadequate and incomplete. In other words, they may be declared as non-Christians and non-Muslims and asked to either complete the process of their transformation to the new faith, or return to the Hindu fold. There can be no half-way house in this matter”.

• Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, July 23, 2006.

 
“The need to strip converts of quota regime: The Kendriya Sarna Samiti (KSS) asserts that tribal converts no longer belong to the Scheduled Tribe as they have renounced their traditional identity as a sine qua non of the conversion process”.

•  Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, September 3, 2006.

 
Cannibalizing Hindu society: Evangelicals have jealously sought access to the caste-based reservation benefits of Hindu depressed classes. They saw their chance when the Mandal Commission listed some ‘Muslim castes’ among the OBCs. Political parties were too short-sighted to challenge this dangerous opening, and Christians began to lobby for SC/ST benefits for ‘Dalit Christians’.”

• Sandhya Jain, Hindutva ideologue, in the Organiser, June 3, 2007.

 
“Enough is enough! Stop looting! Don’t try patience of Hindus: Why should Hindu tax-payers pay for vicious design by Islamic fanatics? Why should Hindu SCs, OBCs and STs and other meritorious Hindus allow Muslims and Christians to snatch their school/college seats, jobs, loans, lands and political rights?… STs converted to Christianity should not be allowed to retain and enjoy their ST reservations. Articles 25 to 30, minority privileges should be cancelled”.

• Pravin Togadia, VHP leader, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010.

 
“It is the story of another anti-Hindu policy of Orissa government, which is going to create an explosive situation… Levinus Kindo, IAS, the member of state board of revenue, has issued a circular to all the collectors that during his last tour of the tribal areas, he found that the tribal Christians (tribal converted to Christianity) are being deprived of getting proper benefit as they are being recorded as only Christians in the government records and in their respective Record of Rights (RoR) too… ‘Such an illegal and anti-national circular of Orissa government will encourage the missionary to undertake more conversions in the tribal areas. Christians will enjoy double privilege as tribals along with their present religion, says Sarat Chandra Sarangi, state general secretary of VHP, Orissa while expressing his reaction on the issue’.”

• Debasis Tripathy, in the Organiser, May 15, 2005.

Hindutva on secularism: ‘a façade for anti-Hinduism’
 
For the ideologues and votaries of Hindutva, secularism is a dirty word:
 
“Secularism has degenerated as the backbone of terrorists & evangelists: This India had to be a Hindu India. The ideology of Indian secularism, misconceived from the very outset, has become the backbone of Islamic jihad and fundamentalist evangelism. The one is committing mass murder, the other attempting to transform India’s cultural and political landscape in order to reimpose foreign rule over it”.

• Dr.Gautam Sen, president, World Association of Hindu Academicians, in the Organiser, November 2, 2008.

 
“Secularism: A facade for anti-Hinduism: We became enamoured of the word secular because of our contact with the Britishers during their 150 years rule or because of our association and appreciation of the British polity… Why are not Pakistan and Bangladesh secular states?”

• MG Vaidya, all-India Prachar Pramukh, RSS, in the Organiser, October 12, 2008.

 
“For RSS, secularism is irrelevant in India: The perversion of the concept of secularism has resulted in the terming of nationalists as communal and people with communal thinking being hailed as secular. Saffron should have been the only colour on the national flag as other colours represented a communal thought.”

• MG Vaidya, all-India Prachar Pramukh, RSS, in The Indian Express, September 20, 2015.

 
“Rajnath is right. Secularism has become communal”.

• Shyam Khosla, on the then BJP president, Rajnath Singh calling for  a national debate on secularism, in the Organiser, June 15, 2008.

 
“Secularism is the most misused word in the country…This must stop. Because of the rampant misuse of the word, there have been instances of tension in society.”

• Rajnath Singh, Union home minister, NDTV, November 26, 2015.

 
Issue after issue of the Organiser is splashed with headlines such as ‘Secularism as insulting Hindus’, ‘Obnoxious application of secularism’. The media and secular groups who ‘dare’ to spoke out against anti-Christian or anti-Muslim atrocities are severely castigated for alleged “minority appeasement” and “pseudo-secularism”.
 
 
Hindutva on India’s minorities: ‘Your Safety lies in our goodwill’
 
“Hindutva is facing severe jolts all over the world. Muslim fundamentalists and Christian missionaries are the age old enemies of Hinduism. Next to them the communists have come forward to squeeze the throat of this great way of life. They have also walked a long way in this deadly mission”

• Jagadguru Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswatiji of Puri (Odisha) Govardhan Peetham, one of the four Sankaracharyas, in the Organiser, June 18, 2006.

 
“Minorities must have good relations with the majority for their safety”.

• (Former) RSS Chief KC Sudarshan, talking to the media after a dialogue with Christian leaders, in The Times of India, March 22, 2002.

 
“Unravelling the poisonous power of discourse: The UPA government made a great communal leap when it formed the Ministry of Minority Affairs… The creation of National Commission for Minorities is another instance of communalism… The Sachar Committee’s functioning needs to be probed… it has violated not only its terms and references but created a poisonous atmosphere. The recommendations are not [only] communal and divisive [but] a complete retreat to hey days of the Muslim Leagues’ politics”.

• Rakesh Sinha, RSS ideologue, in the Organiser, January 31, 2010. 

 
Hindutva on the Vatican: Pope a ‘dacoit’
 
“Conversion to Christianity in the pretext of service, health, education and co-operation is an insult and devaluation to the service itself and a crime against humanity… It proves that your services are selfish motivated and expansionist as well as intolerant… In all the states, districts, areas where the Christian missionaries are active and powerful, the hatred, crime, social unrest, separatism, addiction are on the increase and the environment of peace, harmony, brotherhood and happiness are fading away”.

• Indresh Kumar, in an open letter addressed by him to Pope Benedict XVI, reported by the Organiser, October 19, 2008.

 
“The pontiff, who is a dacoit, cannot be India’s guest”.

• VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore in a scathing attack on Pope John Paul II, in The Telegraph, October 29, 1999.

 
“Christianity inherited this [Roman] instinct of cruelty. The Pope wants to convert us Hindus into Christianity. The West wants to have control over our destiny. Can we allow these things to happen?”

• MSN Menon, in the Organiser, March 20, 2005.

. 
Hindutva’s advise to Christians: set up Indian nationalistic churches 
 
“Indian Christians must free themselves from from the stranglehold of foreign countries by setting up Indian nationalistic churches."

• KS Sudarshan, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief), at an RSS rally in Agra. A few days earlier, Sudarshan had argued that this was essential in the interests of national security; in The Washington Times, October 18, 2000.

 
“Church is an arm of the West's defence forces. It has been used to guide Christians into domestic as well as international politics”.

• KS Sudarshan, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief), at an RSS rally in Agra, in the Fontline.

 
“An Indian Christianity not just desirable, it is a must: Indian Christians must purge their faith of… imperial distortions… Indian Christians must leave this tradition of violence. They are legatees of the Indian (Vedic) tradition of love (of humanity as a family) and the Buddhist tradition of compassion. But this also happens to be the tradition of Jesus. Christianity was born as a religion of love. Today it is a religion of hatred. This must be a matter of concern to Indian Christians. Only the guidance of a lofty world view such as that of Vedanta can release them from their predicament. Only they can save Christianity’.

• MSN Menon, in the Organiser, July 29, 2007.

 
The above quotes are just a few examples, taken mostly from the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, which clearly shows the hostility of the sangh parivar towards the principles and values enshrined in the Indian Constitution, demonisation of Christianity and Islam, animosity and hostility towards’s the country’s Christians and Muslims. There is nothing new here.
 
The term Hindutva was coined by Vikram D Savarkar leader of the Hindu Mahasabha a century ago. In his book with the same title, he had argued that India belongs only to those for whom the country was both a pitrubhoomi (fatherland) and punya bhoomi (holy land). Madhav S Golwalker, the second and the longest serving sarsanghchalak (chief) of the RSS (1940-1973) in its 90-year-old history, till date remains the most revered ‘Guru’ of the sangh privar. In his book We, or our nationhood defined first published in 1939, had also asserted that non-Hindus may at best aspire to continue living in his imagined Hindu Rashtra as second class citizens. In the early 1960s, he had identified Muslims, Christians and communists as the three “internal enemies” who are far more dangerous than external enemies and Hindus must guard against them.  
 
Thus, what the leadership and the ideologues argue of the sangh parivar argue today, as may be seen from statements and writings such as those referred to above lie spring from the core ideas of Hindutva formulated a century ago. Even today, the sangh parivar remains committed to turning secular-democratic India in to a Hindu Rashtra.
 
As in case of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch, through the institution of the proposed Rashtriya Isai Manch, the sangh parivar wants to create a forum of RSS-friendly Christians to legitimise its anti-Constitution, anti-secular democratic, anti-minorities world views. It is important to recall that the Rashtriya Muslim Manch was floated in the aftermath of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002 in Gujarat under the watch of then chief minister Narendra Modi and the proclamation by the RSS top leadership that Muslims must have cordial relations with Hindus in the interests of their own safety. It is no less important to remember who Indresh Kumar, the man who is being projected as the RSS face for the proposed Christian front, is. For the Survivors Association of Kandhamal (SAK), Odisha, he along with VHP leader, PravinTogadia are the masterminds of the 2008 mass crimes against the state’s Christians. 
 
Church for combating Fanaticism and fundamentalism
Contrary to the sangh parivar’s baseless allegations of forced or induced conversions, the Church promotes the idea of “building bridges of friendship with the followers of all religions, in order to seek the true good of every person and of society as a whole”. But it also warns against the dangers of religious intolerance, fundamentalism and extremism.
 
In 2013, Cardinal Tauran, president of Justice and Peace Commission affirmed that religious freedom was a sacred and inalienable right, convinced that to deny or limit religious freedom in an arbitrary fashion means cultivating a reductive vision of the human person and rendering impossible the affirmation of an authentic and lasting peace for the whole human family.
 
During his visit to Turkey in 2014, Pope Francis stated: “Fanaticism and fundamentalism, as well as irrational fears which foster misunderstanding and discrimination, need to be countered by the solidarity of all believers. Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue can make an important contribution to attaining this lofty and urgent goal, so that there will be an end to all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism which gravely demean the dignity of every man and woman and exploit religion.
 
Cardinal Parolin, Vatican’s secretary of state is not quite optimistic about the dialogue with fundamentalists: “I don’t think that it’s possible to dialogue with fundamentalists. One can offer to dialogue, but I don’t see many opportunities of establishing a dialogue”.
 
Final Comments
Should the Church join hands with those who believe in a just, equitable and diverse world or should they seek security from communal, hate-filled and violent groups that demonise other religious traditions? This is a very important moment in history when the Church could and should join eminent writers, thinkers, academicians, film makers and civil society who speak for the overwhelming majority of all Indians and who believe in a secular democratic polity which protects and promotes the equal rights and freedoms of all citizens, including the right to freedom of religion. Of course, the Church could and should also engage in dialogue with Hindu religious leaders too. But nothing is to be gained in cozying up with the wolves of the sangh privar parading about in sheep’s clothing.
 
ajaysingho@gmail.com

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 The real estate billionaire, Mr. Donald Trump, hitherto known for his acquisitions, his matrimonial issues and his television business game-play reality series, is now a front-runner for the Republican ticket in the US. He is sailing on a platform whose chief plank is to ban Muslims from the country and severely monitor those who came in before he arrived on the scene.  Mr. Trump seems to suggest he is saving the Christian nation and its way of life from violent hordes out of Arabia and North Africa. He does not articulate it in so many words, but implicit in his rhetoric, in his frothing at the mouth speeches, are also wilder images.

That is a terrible situation already, even though perhaps Mr. Triumph will eventually not get to reside in the estate called the White House. But there is something eerily familiar in the American debate. Have we not heard those words earlier, or something similar, nearer home? Perhaps,  in India? They do haunt us here, and it will be good to reflect on them this Minorities Day on December 18.

 Mercifully, Mr. Trump has been finessed in his home country. The current occupant of the White House, the son of a Black African Muslim father and a White Anglo Saxon Protestant mother, has rubbished the speeches as anti-American, as going against the very premise of the US as a haven for refugees, the poor and the persecuted.  Mr. Trump’s own Republican Party is deeply embarrassed, leading him to say he does not need the party to enter the Presidential fray. The White Americans, barring the cheering crowds at his rallies, have voiced solidarity with all Muslims, some apologizing for Mr. Trump’s poisonous churlishness.

The most severe indictment of the billionaire protagonist of the white supremacist ideology are American Jews, who normally support an aggressive US position against Arabian countries inimical to the Promised Land of Israel. Prominent American Jews, in speeches, television debates and newspaper reports, have told Mr. Trump that they have heard his argument on Muslims many decades ago. These were almost the exact words that Adolf Hitler, chancellor and eventually dictator of Germany, used against the Jews, including the programme of separate population registries. More than six million Jews were exterminated before the Western Allies and Russia managed to defeat Hitler in a five year long world war.

The Apex court, and also the high courts have not been proactive on issues of justice for religious minorities, whether they seek enhancement of relief and rehabilitation, affirmative action or  a place in the state apparatus commensurate with their numbers. And above all, on issues of justice for victims of targeted violence, it’s healing and kindness to victims has been less than adequate.

Religious and ethnic minorities the world over have reason to be worried as to how the Daesh (ISIS) butchery of Christians, Muslims and others, will impact them. The reaction of governments is just one aspect, which includes the reluctance in Europe and elsewhere to take in Muslim refugees from Syria and parts of other neighbouring countries. In Europe there is the additional fear of radicalization or expansion to young Europeans of the ultra-conservative and xenophobic ideology. There have already been warnings of a rise in anti-Semitism and neo Nazism in several parts of Europe, and a growing intolerance of Muslim refugees, which began years ago with the first entrants from Turkey and Algeria and which has now intensified.

The spectre of Daesh (ISIS) has not left India untouched. There are real threats of terrorism in India, and Daesh (ISIS) with its highly public rhetoric on TV, print and social media may possibly be reaching a few young men and women in India. But the official and political response is an over-kill. Stalwarts of the sangh parivar, in overdrive since the election campaign of 2014 and only slightly dazed by the defeats in Delhi and Bihar, have picked on what happened in Paris and Syria to redouble their campaign to stigmatise the Indian Muslim. Every one of the usual suspects of the sangh parivar, and several more, have been on TV and public platforms trying to convince the general public of their thesis of an  imminent danger of Islam and Muslims swamping and overwhelming the beloved and holy motherland. The release now of the religious component of the 2011 national census has added fuel to this. The sudden revival of the Constitution’s directive principles on the protection of the cow and the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) have become the weapons of choice in a new political campaign against Muslims.

 The rhetoric has already drawn blood, with one person, father of an air force corporal, lynched in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, another killed by forcing high pressure air into his stomach, and many seriously injured in attacks after they were branded as cattle rustlers or beef butchers. Some states have made this witch-hunt legal, by making beef illegal. The toll rises by the day, and is at least five on the eve of Minority Rights day.

The Supreme Court is seemingly not interested in adjudicating these issues in a definitive manner, repeatedly sending mixed signals. One honourable Justice caustically asked the Union Government why it is not coming up with a Common Civil Code, while another bench said the protagonists or those opposing such issues need to go to the government for suitable legislation instead of seeking mandates from courts of law. The Apex court, and also the high courts have not been proactive on issues of justice for religious minorities, whether they seek enhancement of relief and rehabilitation, affirmative action or  a place in the state apparatus commensurate with their numbers. And above all, on issues of justice for victims of targeted violence, it’s healing touch and compassionate jurisprudence to victims and survivors, has been less than adequate.

But a radicalised political group and its followers, in uniform in the form of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or  in the scores of organizations it has spawned covering villages, tribals, education and the youth, which has been roused against Muslims will not be satisfied with just targeting that one community. The leaders of the Sangh have written, and said, quite openly that they see Christians and communists as much as an enemy, as the Muslims. It is no secret too, that it is the RSS’ supremacist ideology that dictates the central government’s thrust and functioning, today.
 Christians, hierarchy or Laity, essentially live in a cocoon, or rather several cocoons of denominations, ethnicities and regional identities, when it comes to responses to issues of human rights, civil liberties or citizenship.  Many tend to believe the myths or exaggerations spouted by the Sangh against Muslims, and in states such as Kerala, the valley of Kashmir and regions in Assam or Bengal, there are several friction points between Christians and Muslims. Church leaders have expressed their apprehensions of a rise in the Muslim population in some areas with no less pungency than the most acerbic of the Sangh veterans.

 A false belief that Christians will remain untouched, or essentially safe, even in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile towards Muslims, has prevented the community — which really has no national political leadership of its own – from dispassionately and comprehensively analyzing the public sphere, including constitutional derivatives such as the courts and the administration, for erosion of their rights.

 One does not want to repeat the statistics of the one-year and more of Mr. Narendra Modi’s  premiership here[1], or the record of the states where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power. The Congress, the Janata, the Dravida parties and several offshoots of the Lohia ideology have not shown too much of a better record when it comes to removing structural hurdles to ensure the rights of minorities.

Several of the worst laws eroding minority rights were passed by Congress governments, and not removed when the others came to power. The issue of Scheduled Caste status and the repeal of the anti-constitutional Part 3 of Article 341, and several of the laws against conversion are a case in point. In fact, many commentators have pointed out in the past that several other parts of the Constitution and legislation have a majoritarian bias, but have managed to remain on the statute books, unchallenged nor repealed. But since the Constitution and the Republic that it founded is the reference point available today, its further erosion remains a major threat to religious minorities in the country.

What the BJP-National Democratic alliance government has done is to remove the cataract that blinkered the minorities who had continued to hope that their low key movements for the removal of the anti conversion laws or the restoration of the rights to Dalit Muslims and Christians would succeed sooner rather than later.

A false belief that Christians will remain untouched, or essentially safe, even in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile towards Muslims, has prevented the community — which really has no national political leadership of its own – from dispassionately and comprehensively analyzing the public sphere, including constitutional derivatives such as the courts and the administration, for erosion of their rights.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who has often come to the rescue of this majoritarian dispensation has made this clear during the beate on Constitution Day in Parliament. On the Dalit Christians and Muslims issue where writs in the Supreme Court have been kept hanging for more than a  decade, the Congress government (UPA I and II) had whiled away the time and not given the Court the affidavit it was supposed to –despite a spate of adjournments and directives — on whether it supported the demand for abrogation of Article 341, part 3, or not. The Congress played a typical safe and double game: it just did not want to take a decision but also did not want to annoy the minorities. Congress president. Sonia Gandhi had made it clear that Christians and Muslims could not expect her to do anything because of the opposition from both the upper castes as well as the non Christian and non Muslim Dalits within the party who had been fed the lie that their rights would be taken away and apportioned away from Christians and Muslims (Dalits).

Incidentally, this was the same argument Mr. Modi used repeatedly in his campaign in Bihar, though it did not win him too many seats. Party officials have made it clear they have no intention of giving any scheduled caste privileges to Dalit Christians and Muslims.  The government may also say this, in writing, to the Supreme Court one of these days. Patently, the minorities will have to review the situation and see how they re-invent their movement.

The long struggle to get the anti conversion laws which are operational in six states removed, shows no sign of moving forward. It needs be remembered that not all these laws were brought about by the BJP, or its predecessor, the Jana Sang. The last enactment, in Himachal Pradesh, was by a Congress government and its overzealous chief minister, Vir Bhadra Singh, who now finds himself in very hot water because of charges of corruption levied against him.  Mr. Modi’s ministers have again spelled out in some detail that the government not only supports such laws, but is also actively considering bringing about a national law against conversions, though issues of Constitutionality and jurisdiction, remain.  They are, as for some other  laws, waiting till they get an absolute majority in the Rajya Sabha, or till they can persuade some of the more vulnerable Opposition groups to support the move.

 In another structural issue related to furthering minority rights, the experience of the Christians of Kandhamal district in Orissa is an example of  justice so slow in delivery, as to have become meaningless. Fr. Ajay Singh, a  human rights activist who has been raising the issue since the large scale and targeted violence engulfed the district in August 2008, reports  that in the eight years since the Kandhamal anti-Christian violence, the very fact that 72% of the complaints  have not yet been even registered by the police itself speaks volumes. It exposes the mindset of the state machinery. “The role of prosecutors and judges in the trial courts also reveal little commitment to sense of justice. Less than six of the accused have been, so far, convicted. The failure of the criminal justice system to convict grave crimes like murders and rapes, and the meagre compensation given for the substantive damages suffered has furthered embolden the perpetrators.” “Today, Hinduvta forces are doubly emboldened because of the victory of Mr. Modi. The RSS shakhas are sprouting up. The terrified and insecure Christian community has started accepting this as a ‘fait accompli’, though we had petitioned everyone all the way upto the President of India when a delegation called on him in Rashtrapati Bhavan”, says Fr Ajay. The government of India seems un-interested in persuading the state government to reopen cases of murder, and arson. And this is understandable. The main accused and suspects in every case are members of the Sangh Parivar.

 Tea parties for select Christians this year will not undo the hurt of declaring Christmas as Good Governance day last year. Surely the prime minister and his ministers, and the ambitious middlemen, must know that.

To come back to “Life after Trump”. Whether he wins or loses, the moot question is if the international community will in future pursue with any vigour the issues of hate crimes committed in his wake. Many wonder if the terrorist acts of Daesh will be evoked to explain, if not to justify, the response of xenophobes and of instances of targeted violence against Muslims.

And, overwhelmed by the situation in the Middle East and the refugee crisis in Europe, will the international human rights infrastructure of the United Nations, including the Special Rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights council in Geneva,  ever again be able to use its moral clout to magnify the voice of victims in countries such as those of South Asia? For activists working on issues of “Freedom of Religion and Belief” as guaranteed under the UN charter, the end of 2015 is a time of great concern, and deep worry, specially so in India where religious minorities number nearly 200 million.
 
(The author is a journalist, occasional documentary film maker and social activist)

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An executive summary of the report had been published by Communalism Combat in April 2010. This summary can be viewed at  https://sabrangindia.in/sabrangthemes/looking-ahead
 
In the chapter on ‘Demands for Amending the Constitution (SCs) Order, 1950’, the Commission had concluded:
“Inclusion of castes in the old Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order 1936 was based on general impressions and not on any actual survey of the caste situation in the country. The same can be said about the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 which was based on the old SC Order of 1936; inclusion of additional castes from time [to time] to the lists under the present order of 1950 is also not based on a scientific survey of the actual caste situation in the country. (1)

“ By all available evidence we find the caste system to be an all-pervading social phenomenon of India shared by almost all Indian communities irrespective of religious persuasions. (2)

By all available evidence we find the caste system to be an all-pervading social phenomenon of India shared by almost all Indian communities irrespective of religious persuasions

“ It is claimed and agreed to by almost all sections of society in India, in various contexts and especially in respect of the issue of reservations that no special benefits can be given to any community or group on the basis of religion. At the same time however, it is generally insisted upon that the class of scheduled castes must remain religion-based. This seems to be illogical and unreasonable. (3)
 
As articulated by us in our editorial at the time, “While opposition from the Hindu Right to any affirmative action favouring the minorities is only to be expected, the Ranganath Misra Commission’s recommendations are also facing resistance from several other quarters. Sections of the SCs are opposed to the extension of reservation benefits to Muslim and Christian Dalits, for it will take away a slice from their share of the cake. OBC Muslims are opposed to an across-the-board 15 per cent reservation in education and government employment for minorities, as they fear that the ashraf (upper-caste) Muslims will corner most of the benefits. The upper-caste Muslims meanwhile are enthusiastic supporters. OBC leaders of the likes of Mulayam, Laloo and Sharad Yadav seem to be in a bind. Endorsing the recommendations will mean “conceding” apportioning a part of the OBC share exclusively to minorities. On the other hand, opposing it will make them unpopular with a constituency whose votes they eagerly seek. It is precisely in this OBC zone of discomfort that the Congress had seen for itself an opportunity to ingratiate itself with Muslims, opposition from the backward sections within the community notwithstanding.
 
Electoral calculations being paramount, are the articulations of the minister geared towards the powerful OBC block?
 
 

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