Struggle For Equal Rights To Dalit Christians Reaches The Critical Stage, Say Leaders

HYDERABAD, FEB. 25, 2008, 10.30 Hrs (CBCI News):

The struggle for the equal rights of the Christians of Scheduled Caste origin is continuing for the last 58 years from the time the Constitution Order was promulgated by the President legitimizing their discrimination on the basis of religion. It has now reached a “now or never phase” forcing us to enter the “do or die stage”.

On December 31, 2008, led by Hyderabad Archbishop M. Joji and accompanied by Bishop Ernest Komanapalli of Rock Church about 20 priests, pastors and lay leaders from the Catholic, CSI, Rock Church, Salvation Army and other Churches met Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, in his camp office.

Archbishop Joji presented to the Chief Minister a memorandum on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC) pointing out the undue delay on the part of the Congress-led UPA Government in rectifying the Constitutional anomaly in the Presidential Order 19 of 1950.

The memorandum pointed out that the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission and the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes have already advised the Central Government to delete the para 3 of the Order de-linking religion from caste.

Also, the memorandum deplored the fact that the Union the Government again on January 23, 2008 sought eight weeks from the Supreme Court to express its stand on the matter thus delaying, hence denying justice for them.

Accepting the request of the APFC, the Chief Minister agreed to send an official delegation to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi to express the support of the State Government to the cause of the Dalit Christians. The Executive Secretaries of APFC Fr. Anthoniraj Thumma and Mr B. Danam IAS (Retd), and the Secretary of the APBC Commission for SC ST BC Fr. A.X. J. Bosco SJ, were present. Sri T. Stanley Babu IRTS, Advisor to the Government of A.P., made arrangements for the meeting and organised the gathering of the ecumenical group to meet the Chief Minister.

As promised in the meeting, the Chief Minister of A.P. wrote a letter dated Feb. 9 to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the UPA Chairperson, urging them “to take immediate action in this regard.”

He made it clear that “this is the most opportune time to introduce the bill in the Parliament to delete para 3 of the Constitution Order 1950 to make the Scheduled Caste status religion-neutral as in the case of Scheduled Tribes as recommended by the above Commissions.”

This letter of the Chief Minister was given wide coverage by the Press all over India by the dailies like The Hindu and the New Indian Express.

Archbishop Joji made copies of the letter of Chief Minister and distributed them to the 150 Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops who took part in the Biannual General Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) held at the internationally acclaimed Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jemshedpur from Feb. 12 - 20, 2008.

The CBCI General Assembly on Feb. 19, took up the issue for discussion and decided to submit a memorandum to the Hon’ble Prime Minister. For the first time in the history of CBCI, all the 150 members present singed and endorsed the memorandum asking the Prime Minister “to introduce a Bill in the forthcoming session of the Parliament to end the discrimination perpetrated through by the Constitution Order.”

CBCI memorandum stressed that the required consensus, to amend the Constitution Order with a simple majority in the Parliament, already exists as all the UPA partners have given their consent. It showed that the leaders of many political parties including CPI, CPI (M), DMK, BSP, SP, JDU, SAD, RJD, RSP, MDMK, PMK, LJS and AIDMK have included the issue in their Party Manifestoes and have submitted their consent in writing to the Union Government to bring about the amendment to the Constitution Order. Some Chief Ministers like Kumari Mayawati of U.P., Thiru M. Karunanidi of T.N., and Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of A.P. have also added their support by writing to Prime Minister.

At this critical juncture, efforts to obtain the equal rights must be made consistently, constantly and continuously. Unless a prolonged satyagraha with an relay indefinite fast and prayer led by the Bishops is undertaken, Christians will not get justice. Delegations from every state / region in turn can sit for a few days in the relay fast and prayer to bring pressure on the Government to take a favourable stand in the Supreme Court when the case comes up hearing again on March 27, 2008. The indefinite relay fast and prayer must be undertaken as the disciples of Jesus Christ who fasted and prayed and in the spirit of Lent, so that pressure is brought on the Parliamentary to take up the Bill in the Budget Session itself. If the present opportune moment is lost, it may never appear again.

Fr. Anthoniraj Thumma
Executive Secretary, A.P. Federation of Churches – APFC