No quota, no vote: say Dalit Christians They expressed disappointment over the negligence of the UPA government in granting Scheduled Caste status to dalit Christians.
Source: press release (courtesy: ucannews)
New Delhi: In the parliamentary elections next year, Dalit Christians will not vote for political parties, including ruling Congress coalition, that have not supported actions to grant quota rights to dalit Christians, their leaders said. About 100 Dalit Christian leaders representing various states and different denomination of the church in India gathered at the CNI Bhavan to deliberate on the issue and take a political stand in the light of the forth coming general election-2014.
The dalit leaders have "decided not to the support the Government and any political party which fails to take serious action to resolve the issue soon. They are also requesting the authorities of all the Church denominations to collaborate and do the same," said a press release. The leaders have expressed disappointment over the negligence of the Congress-led UPA govt.
The Indian Constitution allows quotas in educational institutions and government jobs for dalit, members of castes once considered “untouchable,” to help them advance socially and economically. But Christians and Muslims are denied these benefits on the ground that their religion do not follow cast system. Successive
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governments in the last 60 years have failed to do justice to th dlait Christians, who according to some estimate form 80 percent of India's some 23 million Christians.
Christian demand began in 1950s when the Indian president in special order restricted the statutory benefits to only Hindu dalit people.??Later, the government amended the order through parliamentary act to include dalit people from Sikh and Buddhist religions. The meet in New Delhi asked the government to follow its own commission’s recommendation to grand Scheduled Caste status to dalit Christians and Muslims.
The commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranganath Mishra said in a 2007 report that denying the quota right to dalit Christians and Muslims violated the constitution that uphold equality of all. The government tabled the report in parliament in 2009 but nothing further was done on it. The impasse has not deterred the struggle for justice, said one of the organizers, Samuel Jayakumar, executive secretary of the NCCI commission on policy, governance and public witness. According to Church sources, more than 60 percent of India's 25 million Christians come from dalit castes.
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