Over 400 Dalit Christians stage protest demanding SC status in Vellore

VELLORE: Over 400 members of the Dalit Christian community in Vellore observed Black Day on Monday, taking part in the annual nationwide protest demanding SC status for Dalit Christians and Muslims, and repealing of the 1950 presidential order that had then granted SC status exclusively to Hindus. The protest was organised by Vellore Catholic Diocese SC/ST committee, the CSI church-Vellore diocese, and the All Minorities Federation. Protesters gathered near the Anna Kalaiarangam on Monday and were joined by Vellore Catholic Bishop Ambrose Pichamuthu and Vellore CSI Bishop Sharma Nithyanandam, along with more than 20 other fathers and pastors from across the district. August 10 has been observed as Black Day annually since 2009 as the presidential order, which excluded non-Hindu converts, was passed on this date in 1950. Protesters recalled multiple instances where recommendations of individual commission reports, such as the Ranganath Misra Commission (2007) report, are yet to be implemented. The Misra Commission observed that the majority of the Christians who needed protective law from discrimination belonged to Scheduled Caste converts, thus needing constitutional protection. Rev. Pastor Isaac Kathirvel said it was ironic that the government itself isn’t implementing the suggestions of the commission it formed. “Our people are still SC in villages, and our houses are still cheri/slums; even in terms of marriage and matrimony, we are discriminated against as Dalits. What is stopping the union government from granting us the SC status?” he asked. T he Misra Commission’s report suggests that the converted Christians and Muslims of SC origin continue to be victims of the caste system and suffer from a comparable depth of social and economic disabilities and educational backwardness to those already recognised a SC. The commission also pointed out that protection under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, was inaccessible to the Dalit Christians and Muslims even after suffering from innumerable forms of indignities and atrocities inflicted upon them.