By TCN News,
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC) has demanded the Union Cabinet to immediately decide for extending the Scheduled Caste privileges to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims. The General Body of APFC which met here on 4th March made the demand. SC status is limited to Dalits among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.
APFC has also urged the Central Government to give an appropriate answer to the query of the Supreme Court to the writ petitions demanding the deletion of the paragraph 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950 in order to extend SC status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste origin.
Mrs. Sheela Dixit, The Present Chief Minister of Delhi, Participating on Human Right Rally Demanding Equal Right for the Dalit Christians on October 3, 1988 [Photo: dalitchristians.com]
The group warned that if these demands are not fulfilled, many Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims will not vote for Congress and its allies in the forthcoming Assembly elections and General Election 2014, Rev. Gali Bali, Bishop of Guntur and General Secretary, APFC said in a statement.
The Constitutional Scheduled Caste Order 1950 restricted Scheduled Caste (SC) status only to Scheduled Castes professing Hinduism. Later on it was extended to Scheduled Castes who embraced Sikhism and Buddhism. However, Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims have been denied SC status for the last sixty years.
National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) stated that non inclusion of Scheduled Caste Christians and Scheduled Caste Muslims in the Scheduled Caste list is a discrimination based on religion and goes against the articles 14, 15, 16 and 25 of the Constitution of India. Religion must be de-linked from caste. The discriminatory paragraph 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Caste Order 1950 should be deleted by appropriate action.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has recommended that Scheduled Caste status must be extended to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste origin.
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) too has supported the demand.
The hearing of the writ petitions filed in the Supreme Court in 2004 and other petitions is unduly delayed because of the unreasonable tactics of the Union Government to give a reply to the Supreme Court.
On 24th Feb. the SC was to hear the case but the central government did not file its reply.
Chief Minister of Tamilnadu M Karunanidhi on 25th Feb. wrote a letter to the Prime Minister to take urgent decision and extend SC status to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.