Following is the text of the memorandum the delegation presented
to the Home Minister:
20 January 2010
Shri P.
Chidambaram
Hon’ble Union Minister
for Home Affairs
North Block
New Delhi – 110 001
Subject: Request to implement the recommendation of the
National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities to delete
paragraph 3 of the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950.
Respected
Sir,
Please accept prayerful
greetings from leaders of Muslim and Christian communities.
We, concerned leaders of Muslim and Christians communities, express our
deep gratitude to the Union Government of India for tabling the NCRLM
report in the Parliament.
As you are very well aware, the NCRLM report has important recommendation
regarding Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin, viz.:
“…that Para 3 of the
Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 – which originally restricted
the Scheduled Castes 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)
Here we would like to bring to your kind attention important findings of
another important study, Dalits
in the Muslim and Christians 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 of the Department of Sociology, University of
Delhi, in 2008. This study says that it is beyond doubt that
“DMs (Dalit Muslims) and DCs (Dalit Christians) are socially known and
treated as distinct groups within their own religious communities.” It
further says that it is an undisputable fact that “they are invariably
regarded as ‘socially inferior’ communities by their co-religionists.” The
study further says that both Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are Dalits
first and Christians and Muslims only second. (p.78)
The study goes on to say that social distance or superiority is asserted
by non-Dalits, especially the ‘upper castes’ over Dalit Christians and
Dalit Muslims and it is practiced in different forms in various regions.
Such variation is present in all Dalit communities of all religions. (p.
78). Inter-caste marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits among Christians
and Muslims are not common, even prohibited and social sanctions are
imposed on who break this taboo. Social segregation is also there in the
sphere of worship and religious rituals [among Christians], with separate
churches among Dalit Christians. Various modes of subordination exist in
churches and mosques, as well as insistence on separate burial grounds.
Occupational segregation and economic exploitation are also very common.
(p. 78). The study further says that since the last
major judicial pronouncement on Dalit Christian issue, there is a lot more
evidence available now on the social economical and educational
backwardness of Dalit Christians and as per this study “there is no
compelling evidence to justify denying SC status to Dalit Muslisms and
Dalit Christians.” (p. 81)
The study emphatically concludes, “…based only on the descriptive and
statistical evidence available, there is a strong case for including Dalit
Muslims and Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Caste category. There are
compelling arguments in favour of such an inclusion based on principles of
natural justice and fairness. The balance of pragmatic considerations is
also in favour of their inclusion. According due statutory recognition to
Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians would not only right a wrong, it would
also remove an indefensible anomaly in our politico-legal system that can
legitimately be construed as discriminatory. Whether or not such
discrimination can be proven in a court of law, it will surely weigh on
the conscience of every fair-minded Indian. (p. 83)
For more than five decades Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste
Origin are being excluded from the process of development. Such an
exclusion of a section of the people goes against the “inclusive growth”
repeatedly invoked by the Union Government.
We earnestly request you at this crucial juncture that the Ministry of
Home Affairs may endorse the recommendations of the National Commission
for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) and extend Scheduled
Castes status to Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste origin.
Thanking you
Yours
Sincerely,
Mujtaba Farooq, Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind
Maulana Niyaz Frooqi, Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind
Dr
Zafarul-Islam Khan, ex-President, All
India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat
Dr
SQR Ilyas, Executive Member, All
India Muslim Personal Law Board
Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mahdi, General Secretary, Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees
Prof.
M Mary John, President, National Council of Dalit Christians
Dr
Rev. Fr. G Cosmon Arokiaraj, Executive Secretary, CBCI Commission for
SC/ST/BC
Rev.
Dr Enos Das Pradhan, General Secretary, NCCI
