The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution, moved by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, urging the Centre to amend the Constitution to extend statutory protection, rights, and concessions, including reservation, to Scheduled Caste members who have converted to Christianity.
BJP member Vanathi Srinivasan opposed the resolution and walked out with the other members of her party after Speaker M. Appavu expunged certain remarks made by her.
Mr. Stalin said the government had held discussions and consulted legal experts before moving the resolution. “We have not done it in a hurry. The walkout by the BJP has confirmed that we have done it in an appropriate manner,” he said. He acknowledged that the Adi Dravidars continued to face caste atrocities even after conversion to Christianity.
“According to the Constitution, those who have converted to any religion, other than Sikhism and Buddhism, cannot claim the Scheduled Caste status. When they remain as the Scheduled Castes historically, it is but fair to extend them the benefits. They can get education and employment only through reservation...,” he argued.
Mr. Stalin felt that it was unfair to deny them the benefits of reservation, enjoyed by the other members of the same community, just because they had converted to Christianity. “While humans have the right to follow the religion of their choice, they cannot do it in the case of caste. Caste is not just about the identity of two different persons. On the other hand, it treats one as higher and the other as lower. It is not horizontal, but vertical. The philosophy of social justice is to use the same casteism, a tool of oppression, to provide reservation and uplift the victims of oppression. It is the objective of the ‘Dravidian Model Government’ to follow in all aspects,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Stalin said the correct stand should be to extend the political and constitutional rights and social justice to the Adi Dravidars who had converted to Christianity.
Recalling the letters written by former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in 1996, 2006, 2010 and 2011 to the then Prime Ministers, requesting them to extend the benefits of reservation to the Scheduled Caste members who had converted to Christianity, Mr. Stalin said the State government also made clear its stand on the issue in the Assembly on January 6, 2011.
“We have made a promise in our election manifesto,” he said, pointing out that in Tamil Nadu, orders had been issued to extend all benefits, except those of reservation, to the Adi Dravidars who had converted to Christianity.
“The grant for research scholars and the financial assistance for studying abroad are made available to students of the Adi Dravidar communities that have converted to Christianity. It is appropriate to extend the benefits of reservation [in higher education and government employment] to them,” the Chief Minister said.
In a statement, BJP State president K. Annamalai said Mr. Stalin moved the resolution to divert attention from some recent incidents — mixing of human faeces in drinking water at Vengaivayal — in which the Scheduled Castes were targetted.
He pointed out that in October last, the Central government appointed former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, as the chairperson of a commission constituted to find out the implication for the existing Scheduled Castes of according the Scheduled Caste status to those who had converted to Christianity and Islam. The commission was given two years to submit its recommendations. He wanted to know if Mr Stalin studied the implications of the proposed resolution, and can he make that report public.
