Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Friday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enact a law for according the status of Scheduled Castes to those SCs who converted to Christianity.
Citing paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Modification Order which stated that no person who belonged to religions other than Hinduism or Sikhism or Buddhism would be considered a member of the SCs, Mr. Karunanidhi, in a letter, called for the deletion of the paragraph.
The State government was of the view that members of the castes listed in the Schedule (Scheduled Castes) had suffered social and economic discrimination, irrespective of the religion professed by them. His government was committed to extending all concessions, meant for SCs, to members of the SCs who were following other religions.
Mr. Karunanidhi drew Dr. Singh's attention to the fact that the State government had already urged the Union government to take steps in this regard.
