Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Equal rights to Dalits

The article "Ensuring equal rights to all Dalits" (Sept. 22) articulating the demand of various Dalit Christian forums, is timely. Christianity never accepts caste and other discriminatory practices. But in India Christianity has come to include all such practices. The missionary, Robert De Nobili, admitted caste in the name of Indianising Christianity, which resulted in the conversion of Brahmins and other high caste people. Thus caste discrimination seeped into the Church and continues to this day.

S. Xavier,
Tiruchi, T.N.

As one who has worked among Dalits and Dalit Christians for over 20 years, I know that no social mobility takes place for them due to conversion. Most Dalit Christians of today are Christians by birth and not by conversion. And so, denying them equal rights as enjoyed by other Dalits is a clear case of political injustice.

P.B. Martin,
Chennai

It is not only the state that has failed Dalit Christians. The Church too has failed them by not accepting them as part of the universal fraternity. Also society has failed them by continuing to view them as Dalits and not as Christians. A Christian Dalit, however, is more privileged than his Hindu peer. The track record of the reservation policy is already dismal. Saddling it further with relatively better-privileged people will only diminish its efficacy.

T. Karthikeyan,
Madurai, T.N.

The arguments for extending reservation to Dalit Christians are unacceptable. Christians have been given special protection and privileges as a religious minority. Dalits who choose to convert to Christianity automatically become eligible for this protection. To ask for additional privileges in the name of caste is unjust and unfair. Such privileges, if extended, will be at the cost of those Dalits who continue to remain within the Hindu religion.

J.K. Bajaj,
Chennai

If reservation is extended to Dalit Christians, they will end up getting all the benefits of being minorities and Dalits. They will thus get additional benefits, which are not available to Hindu Dalits.

M. Sharath,
Bangalore

The reservation policy is meant for removing social discrimination perpetrated by the caste system, which is a peculiar phenomenon of Hindu religion. In Christianity, it has never existed. Moreover, reservation is only a means to remove social inequality and is not an ideal in itself. If conversion as propagated by missionaries, or as seen by Dalits, is a means to escape social discrimination, on what basis do they demand reservation?

Chao Bhartiya,
New Delhi

Once we have decided to make reservation caste-based alone, rejecting even the economic basis, it will be a travesty of justice if we extend it to those in casteless religions. Instead, we should focus on the uplift of those members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes who have never had the benefit of reservation.

M. Senthamizhchelvan,
La Jolla, California

Unlike in Hinduism, Christianity does not sanction casteism. Besides, Christian society is well organised with every aspect of civil life controlled and guided by the Church. Therefore, the Church can combat backwardness.

It is worth remembering that Christians have benefited the most from the constitutional provision of minority rights in establishing and running educational institutions. If they are brought into the reservation net it will surely affect the poor, backward Dalits belonging to the Hindu society who are already competing with the economically well off among them.

J.P. Archana,
Kanyakumari, T.N.

It is the caste system in the Hindu religion that resulted in the social ostracism of Dalits. Many of them converted and continue to convert to other religions believing that conversion will obliterate the social stigma. But when those who have converted to Christianity have not been able to get over the stigma, as the article claims, and demand the benefits of reservation given to Hindu Dalits, the very purpose of conversion becomes questionable.

C. Ramesh,
Keeramangalam, T.N.

If a Dalit after conversion is still a Dalit, then it is a breach of the promise made to him or her that in Christianity there is no discrimination, and therefore he or she can lead a life without social stigma. If Christian missionaries are really concerned about the plight of Dalit Christians, they should work through their NGOs for their uplift and impress upon other Christians the need to get over caste prejudices.

M. Raghunarayan,
Mysore

As a Muslim I take strong exception to the argument that "Dalits of all religions live in the same society ruled by caste values" and "a change of religion does not alter their socio-economic status." The article contends that a Dalit is considered untouchable "irrespective of the religious faith he or she may profess." The fact that untouchability exists in Christianity makes it clear that there is no strict edict discouraging it and making it a cardinal sin to practise it, as in Islam.

That members of the Muslim community do not find it necessary to demand equal rights for their "Dalits" is proof that there does not exist among them caste-based discrimination. It would have been better had the writers confined their references to co-religionists or Dalit Christians as they would like to call them and not brought Muslims into the picture.
S.K. Massoud,

Chennai

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