Rally To Demand Equal Rights For Dalit Christians And Dalit Muslims

NEW DELHI, July 16, 2010, 16:00 Hrs (Cosmon Arokiaraj / CBCI News):

Your Eminence/Grace/Excellency/Dear Father/Sister in Christ,

Prayerful Greetings from CBCI Commission for SC/BC!

The NCRLM report was tabled in the Parliament on 18th December 2009. Its important recommendation with regard to paragraph 3 of the Constitution of Scheduled Castes Order 1950 is:

“…we recommend that Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 –which originally restricted the Scheduled Caste net to the Hindus and later opened it to Sikhs and Buddhists, thus still excluding from its purview the Muslims, Christians, Jains and Parsis, etc.- should be wholly deleted by appropriate action so as to completely de-link the Scheduled Caste status from religion and make the Scheduled Castes net fully religion-neutral like that of the Scheduled Tribes.” (16.3.5)

The study on ‘Dalits in the Muslim and Christian Communities’: A Status Report on Current Social Scientific Knowledge, prepared for the National Commission for Minorities, Government of India, by Prof. Satish Deshpande with the assistance of Geetika Bapna, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, 2008 ( On behalf of the National Commission for Minorities asked the Delhi University to prepare this Report ) observes, “there is no compelling evidence to justify denying SC (Scheduled Caste) status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.” (p. 81)

On 22nd April, 2010, National Commission for Scheduled Castes had fully acknowledged and endorsed the recommendations of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities concerned with the deletion of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 for extending the Scheduled Castes status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Castes Origin.

Christians of Scheduled Caste origin firmly believes in democratic structures such as Parliament and Judiciary. We have been ardently and consistently following peaceful democratic means for the past sixty years to demand our legitimate rights as citizens of this country.

Once again National Council of Dalit Christians with the collaboration of CBCI and NCCI is organizing a Dharna on 21st July 2010 from 9 am to 6 pm, at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi – 110 001, to urge the Union Government:1) to take an urgent action on the NCRLM report, particularly to the Additional Term of Reference for granting the Scheduled Castes status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste Origin and 2) to give an appropriate answer to the query of the Supreme Court to the Writ Petitions demanding deletion of the unjust paragraph 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950 and to extend Scheduled Caste status to Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin.

May I request you to encourage the people to participate in the Dharna. You are most cordially invited to participate in the event and express your solidarity. If you wish to contribute for the expenses of Dharna, kindly send your contribution in favor of CBCI Commission for SC/ST/BC. Please do not give money to individuals or any particular organization.

Thanking you

Yours Sincerely in Christ,

(Most Rev. Marampudi Joji)
Chairperson, CBCI Commission for SC/ST/BC