‘Union government has failed to ensure social justice’
The Union government has failed to ensure social justice for Dalit Christians by not extending reservation as recommended by the Ranganath Mishra committee, the former Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council David Simeon said here on Sunday.
He was speaking at a seminar on “Challenges before the Christian Community”, organised by the Christian Youth Organisation.
If the Union government fails to implement this within the completion of its term, Christians should organise protests to fight for their rights, he added. He emphasised unity among Christians. “Unless the entire community unites and speaks up about these issues, there is no hope for setting things right,” he said. “Ensuring reservation at par with Scheduled Castes for Dalit Christians is the responsibility of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. And if it does not take its job seriously, it is the duty of the entire Christian community to speak up against it,” he said.
Another speaker, Dinesh Amin Matoo, said that compared to other minorities, Christians are perceived as well-off and affluent, but there are inequalities with large sections among them still backward and economically-weak. “The leaders of the Christian community need to focus on these sections,” he said.
He pointed out that even during the attacks on churches in the State, it was the less-empowered and backward sections among Christians that spoke up against the injustice. He spoke about the increasing commercialisation of what once started as Christian missionary enterprises in the education and health sector.
Manoj Chandraprasad of Church of South India spoke. More than 200 people from different places, including Mariyannapalya, Naganahalli, Mestripalya, Basavanapura and Chikkammanahalli, participated.
Keywords: Dalit Christians, David Simeon, Christian Youth Organisation
I really think it is high time that citizens and political parties got
together to redefine "minorities" and "reservations". Reservation purely
on the basis of caste or religion is the most retrograde and myopic view
of creating a just society. The highest priority in social welfare
schemes should be accorded to those who are economically deprived.
Christianity claims that there are no castes amongst its believers. Then what is the justification behind this demand for reservation for so called "Dalit" Christians because there "cannot" be any Dalits among Christians ! If they are treated as Dalits even after they converted from Hinduism, what have the Dalits gained either economically or socially ? Converted Dalits face the same discrimination as Hindu Dalits. None of the "higher" caste Christian converts will inter marry or even have normal social contact with them. In fact they are to sit separately in most Churches and even in death are buried in separate graveyards. The same sorry state of discrimination prevails among "Dalit Muslims" as well. Under our Constitution, reservations based on religious identity is forbidden. Then why is the Government even entertaining claims for reservations for "Christian and Muslim Dalits" ? It is pure vote bank politics as it sanctifies caste as the immutable form of social identity !!
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