Church leaders say the government is again playing with the hopes of Dalit communities
NEW DELHI — The Christian community has criticised the Centre’s delaying tactics in deciding whether Dalits who converted to Christianity and Islam should get special constitutional status.
The BJP government recently gave a two-month extension to a Commission of Inquiry looking into granting Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Dalit Christians and Muslims.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment issued a notice on April 9 extending the panel’s deadline to June 10. It is the third extension in three years.
“It is a delay-and-deny tactic by the government. One more extension has exposed its real intent,” Father Prakash Louis, former director of the New Delhi-based Indian Social Institute, was quoted by Union of Catholic Asian (UCA) News as saying.
“The government is again playing with the hopes of these Dalit communities,” he said. “Everyone knows the panel will not be able to submit its report. Even if it does, the government may not table it in Parliament. And if it is tabled, it could be defeated since Hindu Dalits do not want to share the same cake,” the Jesuit scholar said.
Scheduled Castes are disadvantaged communities recognised under the Constitution. They are entitled to reservations in education, employment, and political representation. The category was created by a 1950 Constitutional Order.
Dalits are outside the traditional Hindu caste system and have long faced discrimination from upper-caste Hindus. Caste-based discrimination was outlawed decades ago, but remains prevalent in many parts of India.
The 1950 order initially covered only Dalit Hindus. Sikhs and Buddhists were added later. Dalit Christians and Muslims were excluded because their religions do not recognise caste. Rights advocates say Dalit Christians and Muslims still face social and economic discrimination after conversion.
Dalit Christians have challenged the 1950 order in court, calling it exclusionary and unjust.
The commission was set up in October 2022. It is headed by former Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan. It is examining whether Dalit Christians and Muslims should get SC status.
Father Vijay Kumar Nayak, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Office of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, shared similar concerns: “We are sceptical about the present commission. Unlike the Misra Commission, no proper methodology was followed. Very few field visits were made, and no questionnaires were circulated.”
He said the bishops’ conference collected recent cases of discrimination faced by Dalit Christians in the Church and wider society. It submitted the compiled reports to the Balakrishnan Commission.
“We hope it will help the commission understand the realities of Dalit Christians,” Nayak said.
John Dayal, senior journalist and spokesperson for the All India Catholic Union, said the Modi government has made clear its ideological opposition to extending benefits to converts from Hinduism. It fears a large-scale exodus of Dalits from the Hindu fold.
The BJP government, he said, tolerates conversion to Buddhism because it sees it as a denomination within the broader Hindu tradition.
Jesuit Father Francis P Xavier, rector of Loyola Institutions in Chennai, said many Dalits embraced Christianity to escape social discrimination and exploitation.
“But they have not fully escaped caste-based treatment within the Church,” he said. “Dalit Christians should be granted SC status. Religious conversion does not erase caste-based discrimination, social stigma, or economic marginalisation.”
Official data show that about 201 million of India’s 1.4 billion people are Dalits. Nearly 60% of the country’s 25 million Christians are of Dalit and tribal origin.
