For the first time after Independence, the Indian Christians have started asserting themselves as a community in the country’s political life. That clearly is the message one gets from a plan of action unfolded this week by the community, A coordination committee had been formed with the blessings of top leaders, including such a respected personality as Mother Teresa. The community closed all its schools for a day early this week while a sustained agitational plan has been chalked out. The immediate aim appears to be to press the government to extend to Christian Dalits the reservation facilities made available to non-Christian Dalits. The community’s leaders rightly argue that the denial of the reservation concessions to Dalit Christians has no logic when the two categories of the Indian population live in the same conditions and suffer atrocities at the hands of other a communities. Main opposition to the Christians’ demand comes from the upper caste Hindu dominated Indian government as well as the BJP, the RSS and the Shiv Sena. ‘The latter argue that the Christians weaned away the poor from the Hindu fold by, promising them a casteless society. Now that they had gone out of the Hindu society, the Christian Dalits should not look back to enjoy the facilities granted to the Hindu Dalits. This argument has no force. The Indian Constitution provided for reservation to all traditional Lowcaste sections of India’s society. But its application since 1950 has been its application limited to those Dalits who swore by Hinduism to clearly discriminate against other Dalits. It was with great difficulty that the Indian government had agreed to amend the so-called Presidential order of 1950 to extend the facilities to Sikh (and later Buddhist) Dalits. There is hardly any justification now for keeping the Christian Dalits out of +he reserved categories. The trouble with the Indian social system is that it is hostile to non-Hindus despite protestations of secularism. The non-Hindus have to assert themselves as a united political force. It is a pity that the Christians all these decades shied away from presenting a front along with other non-Hindus. The community collaborated with upper castes and provided them all facilities of education in the Christian institutions in the country. But the upper castes rebuffed these noble gestures. In the circumstances, the Christian community Leaders has been compelled to mount democratic pressure on the eve of the forthcoming parliamentary elections. A patient struggle by the community is likely in the end to force the upper castes to concede the reasonable demand in the first instance.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 24, 1995
