Black Day Protest in Delhi on 10th
August, 2015
For Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims
Jointly Organised by
CATHOLIC BISHOPS’
CONFERRENCE OF INDIA (CBCI), NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN INDIA (NCCI)
and NATIONAL COUNCIL OF DALIT CHRISTIANS (NCDC)
The Constitution
(Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 was signed on 10th August 1950 by
the then President of India which says that “No person who professes a religion
other than Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste”
which was later amended to include Sikhs (1956) and Buddhists (1990) in the
Scheduled Caste net. This order is against the secular nature (Preamble of the
Constitution) of the country, against Article 14(Equality before the law),
article 15(Prohibition of discrimination of any citizen on ground of only
religion), Article 25 (Freedom of Conscience and free to profess any religion),
Article 26 (Equality before the law and equal protection of the law) and
against the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which
India is a party.
That is why every year Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims observe August 10th as Black Day throughout India. Civil Writ petition 180/2004 in the Honorable Supreme Court of India praying the deletion of paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) order 1950 is still pending for the past eleven years. The Constitutional Rights of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are denied based on religion for more than 65 years.
Different commissions
appointed by the Government have clearly recommended that Dalit Christians and
Dalit Muslims should be included in the Scheduled Caste list.
The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) popularly known as Justice Ranganath Misra Commission’s Report says the following:
“Constitution
Scheduled Caste Order 1950 para 3 is unconstitutional and it
is a black letter written outside the Constitution introduced
through the back door by an executive order”.
"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”.
The National
Commission for Minorities has recommended that Scheduled Caste status must be
extended to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste Origin. The National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) too has given its consent.
Till now twelve State
Governments and Union Territories have recommended to Union of India for
granting SC status to these people. The Bihar State Assembly, Uttar Pradesh
State Assembly and Andhra Pradesh(united) state Assembly have passed resolution
for granting SC status to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the years 2000,
2006 and 2009 respectively.
Most of the National
and Regional political parties have supported the demand of Scheduled Caste
status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Caste Origin by writing letters
to the Prime Minister and concerned authorities.
We are profoundly pained that the
rights of the minority communities of Scheduled caste origin are denied and
delayed for many years. Our peaceful and democratic demonstrations will
continue till our rights are attained.
Action :
Throughout India,
Churches of all the denominations observed August 10th as
Black Day. On 10th August special mass and
prayers were offered. Meetings, rallies, demonstrations, hunger fasts,
submitting memoranda, candle vigils and other forms of demonstrations were also
organized by the Christian communities to show support for and solidarity with the
suffering Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin.
In Delhi Black
Day was observed on 10th August 2015
from 4.00 to 5.00 pm in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral main gate
organized by CBCI, NCCI and NCDC. Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad, NCCI General Secretary,
Most Rev. Anil Couto Archbishop of Delhi, Bishop Collin C. Theodor, Secretary
NWICC, The Most, Revd. P.K. Samantaroy, Moderator, Rt. Revd. Dr. P.C.Singh,
Deputy Moderator, and Mr. Alwan Masih, General Secretary of CNI, presided
over the program. Mr. Ali Anwar Ansari MP of JDU and Mr. J.D Seelam (Cong) and
many other MPs showed their support and solidarity for the demand.
Our Demand:
· The Union Government should come forward to resolve
the issue immediately without further delay.
· The Union Government should give appropriate
answer to the query of the Supreme Court based on the recommendation of Justice
Ranganath Misra Commission’s report.
Fr. Z.
Devasagayaraj, Mr.
Franklin Caesar Thomas Samuel Jayakumar
Secretary, SC/BC of
CBCI, National
Coordinator, NCDC Executive Secretary,NCCI
