TeaThe Supreme Court has sought the government’s opinion on a case file that had been gathering dust for nearly two decades and pertains to a matter that is as old as the Constitution. The Supreme Court has asked the Center to take a stand on the sensitive issue of allowing Christian converts to enjoy reservation in government jobs among Dalits and educational institutions, The Supreme Court is all set to hear the petition seeking to determine the status of Dalit Christians. Nothing can be more ridiculous than this symbol of all contradictions – the ‘Dalit Christian’.
According to the Supreme Court Bench, the need to raise the issue at this stage is that many old cases were kept pending ‘due to their social impact’. There is no doubt that any issue related to the rights of the Dalit community will have serious socio-political consequences. But the logic behind knowing the government’s opinion on this issue is shocking. No government would like to commit itself to the issue of reservation in one way or another, the same is true of giving reservation to Christian converts, so called Dalit Christians.
Instead of throwing the ball in the political court, the Supreme Court should tackle the wider issue of political reservation, making it mandatory for political parties to extend provisions that will help in affirmative action.
There is also an urgent need to reconsider the prevailing idea of ”once backward is always backward”, simply because one is born into a particular caste. R. This was discussed extensively in Balaji v State of Mysore. [ix] Case,
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reservation question
Political reservation was to be made available for ten years, after which it was to be reviewed and it was discontinued. Reservation is political representation on the basis of caste and not religion. In the backdrop of the tragic Partition, Ambedkar wanted the Constitution to guarantee equality of opportunity to religious minorities, but not reservations based on his vision for Dalits in Hindu society.
Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 clearly states, “… no person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste”. The clear logic behind this was that discrimination on the basis of birth and caste was a peculiar social disease that affected Hinduism and its lineage. Christianity and Islam declare that they are egalitarian and have no caste. So, what does “Dalit Christian” explain?
Considering the clarity and finality with which the Constitution has articulated this point, the Supreme Court need not take any political opinion. The petition seeking SC/ST status to Christian converts is ultra-virus to the Constitution. The Supreme Court should dismiss the matter and not waste its precious time on such divisive matters with a clear political agenda.
The categorization of Hindus into castes and classes probably has its origins in the historical development of society after the Magadha Empire. There is no sanctity to castes, nor is it mandated by the scriptures to classify people as dalits and untouchables.
In fact, one of the pioneers of the movement for social respect and justice to the so-called Dalits, Ambedkar himself mentioned this in many of his writings and speeches. “The outcast is a byproduct of the caste system. As long as there are castes, there are castes. Nothing can exclude except the destruction of the caste system. Nothing can help but purify Hinduism of this abhorrent and vicious dogma to save the Hindus and ensure their survival in the coming struggle. ,
The abhorrent practice of untouchability and the practice of treating someone as belonging to a lower class has emerged in Hindu society as a complex system of bringing people back to an unchanging social position. According to some researchers, Hinduism – its Vedic and classical forms – did not support the caste system; It strongly opposed this in practice and Theory,
According to a section of historians, when Islamic invaders resorted to forced conversion, many communities/groups of Hindus opposed the conversion. These groups were either brutally killed or exiled to live outside the area of their normal habitat. They were created to scavenge and stay away from the “converted elites” of society. Gradually, these groups organized and started life anew in the ghetto. “There were untouchables and dalits only after Islamic atrocities in medieval times” emergedHistorians like HV Srinivas, SV Kamath and KM Panikkar have also written extensively on it. issue,
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where christianity is at fault
Whatever the origin of the caste system, it was the collective fault of Hindu society that it allowed a large section of its followers to be confined to a more lowly life than that of animals. Questioning this abhorrent practice, Ambedkar had asked, ‘How can it be that even the animals of our homes can take water from the ponds which we are deprived of by the owners of those animals?
But, by law, after the constitution came into existence, most of all these obscene practices were dumped in the dustbin of history. Ambedkar, who piloted the Bills on Reservation for the oppressed sections of the society, had clearly pointed out the need for such a constitutional provision for a limited period. He firmly believed that equality of economic and political opportunities would bring historically marginalized communities to the forefront of progress.
Both Christianity and Islam wooed a large section of the Dalit population with the promise that both these religions are egalitarian and do not recognize caste discrimination. But the irony is that the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) reported that about 70 percent of the Christian population in India are SC background, If discrimination against a ‘Dalit Christian’ or a ‘Dalit Muslim’ continues, what purpose is served by the conversion?
Of the approximately 170 bishops, only 11 are Dalit, resulting in a lack of representation and participation. church affairs, Influential upper-caste Christian converts are accused of taking school and college admissions in church-run institutions. Recently, when the Vatican promoted Vijayawada’s Bishop Marampudi Joji, a Dalit, to the Archbishop of Hyderabad, his predecessor Archbishop Arulappa, an upper-caste convert, publicly condemned Vatican’s decision, Will the high and mighty of these religions accept that their religion is no different in terms of discrimination? Some churches are said to be considering separate “Dalit sacraments” to distinguish them. “Upper Caste Christians”,
There seems to be an attempt by a section of the Church to usurp guaranteed political, economic and employment privileges to a section of Hindu society as affirmative action. The Supreme Court must thwart this dangerous and divisive move.
Seshadri Chari is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Choubey)