Converting equals into untouchables

Indian Muslim and Christian clergy must explain why they are converting egalitarian Islam and Christianity into religions of 'unequal and untouchables'

The Centre has appointed a three-member commission headed by the former chief justice of India, K G Balakrishnan. The commission is tasked with examining whether the Scheduled Caste status be granted to new persons who claim to have historically belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to a religion other than those mentioned in the Presidential Order issued from time to time under Article 341.

The commission has two years to examine the issues and submit its report. According to a notification of October 6 by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Professor Sushma Yadav, a member of the University Grants Commission and Dr Ravinder Kumar Jain, a retired officer of the Indian Administrative Service will be the two other members of this commission.

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It will also examine the implications on the existing SCs of adding new persons to the current list of SCs. It will study the changes Scheduled Castes persons go through on converting to other religions in terms of their customs, traditions, social and other status discrimination and deprivation, and the implications of the same on the question of giving them SC status.

Currently, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has been hearing several writ petitions seeking SC status for Muslim and Christian converts in India. On August 30, the Supreme Court sought the response of the Union government on these writ petitions. Accordingly, the Centre is expected to submit its reply in the next hearing.

Most Muslim and Christian converts are already included in the state and central lists of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). They already get the benefits of reservations in jobs, education, and other concessions. But these petitioners are not satisfied with these benefits. They want to be included in the SCs. Petitioners claim that socially, economically, and educationally these converts are at par with and, in certain cases, below that of their Hindu counterparts (the Scheduled Castes). To buttress their argument and to seek the support of the already listed Scheduled Castes, they maintain that the quota for the Scheduled Caste shall be suitably increased after the inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts.

It is a pity that Muslims and Christians are not only misrepresenting the fundamental facts of the listing of Scheduled Castes, but they are also trying to usurp the hard-earned rights of the Scheduled Castes.

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The listing of castes as Scheduled Castes has its origin in the three Round Tables that the British government organised from 1930 to 1932. These Round Tables had representations from the leaders of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Indian Christians, the Congress party and Depressed Classes (as untouchables were known then). At the time of these Round Tables, several groups, such as Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans, had separate electorates.

Depressed Classes under the leadership of Dr B R Ambedkar in these Round Tables prevailed upon the British government to declare a separate electorate for themselves, meaning that they were to elect their own representatives. But Mahatma Gandhi opposed a separate electorate to the Depressed Classes through his fast unto death in Pune's Yervada jail, resulting in the Pune Pact between the Hindus and the Depressed Classes led by Gandhi and Ambedkar, respectively, in 1932. In lieu of separate electorates, the Pune Pact accepted the claims of the Depressed Classes and guaranteed higher political representation to them. Since then, the Pune Pact has been the Magna Carta of the rights and representation of the Depressed Classes.

For the first time, the term "Scheduled Caste" was mentioned in the Government of India Act of 1935. For its execution, the then British Indian Government issued Scheduled Castes Order 1936 on April 30, 1936. Paragraph three of this Order stated, "No Indian Christian shall be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Caste". Muslims, having a significant presence in Government, Judiciary and other administrative positions and had separate electorates at that time, maintained that there was no untouchability among them.

Therefore, historically, Muslims and Christians were never part of the Scheduled Castes; hence, they were not included in the Scheduled Castes (order), 1936. We must remember that India had Muslim rulers for a long time, but they never recognised the plight of the "untouchable". The same is with the western powers of French, Dutch, British and Portuguese, who ruled different parts of India at different times. The ruling clergy of Muslims and Christians offered "untouchables" freedom from "untouchability and equality at par with others" among Muslims and Christians. Till recently, the clergy of both religions have maintained that they neither practice nor profess "untouchability or inequality". Indian Muslims and Christians must explain why they are converting egalitarian Islam and Christianity into religions of unequal and untouchables.

(Ashok Bharti is chairman National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR))

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)