EPW carries an interesting article-cum-report on the plight of Dalit Christians (Downloadable PDF). It appears to be well-researched replete with historical, contemporary, and statistical data. Prakash Louis, the author, argues that Dalit Christians have been betrayed on all counts and from everybody including the Church.

I argue that his premise is flawed for a most fundamental reason: you cannot be a Dalit and a Christian at the same time. The term Dalit–Harijan if you will–is exclusively Hindu. If you call yourself a Dalit, you are Hindu. One rallying point of Evangelists against Hinduism in their conversion melas is the promise of equal social treatment. But as this report proves, the promise is never honoured.

Many studies have revealed that conversion to Christianity does not change the social condition of the dalits.

Caste discrimination within the Indian Christian community is more than 100 years old according to this report, and persists.

Historical data abound with caste segregation and discrimination within the church right from its inception. The cathedral at Tiruchirappalli, built between 1839 and 1841 was provided with the customary caste bar. In some places, the dalits had their own churches, in other places they attended the services standing outside the church. In common churches they were seated in the side or at the back and could take communion only after the caste Christians…

Several threads emerge. A possible conclusion is that caste-based discrimination is genetically inherent more in Indians than any other race. The other conclusion is that Indian Christianity is not “pure” Christianity because of its caste component, an aberration. A third conclusion is Christianity has failed to provide Dalits the social upliftment it promised. Worse, it has compounded the problem by adding Dalit Christians to the already-colossal pile of castes, groups, and tribes. In real numbers, this translates to

…[of the] 20 million Christians in India, that is, two per cent of the population, nearly 70 per cent are dalits.

This is apart from the “Hindu” SCs, STs, and lately, “Dalit” Muslims.

The roots of this confusion lie in the mindset that motivates conversion.

In the current context the primary concern of Evangelists is merely to add numbers to the total Souls saved. Perhaps the most famous example is Mother Theresa who baptized people on the deathbed to satisfy her inner drive of saving souls. Conversion now takes place mostly on the basis of fraud and economic inducement. The promise of bettering the livelihood of potential convertees is honoured only during the actual conversion ceremony, and on a few occasions after that. Thereafter, the converts are left to their own devices. This is a highly plausible explanation and perhaps, the very reason for the EPW report. But the effects are disastrous. They’re economically no better than before, plus they now have to follow an alien faith that cuts off future generations from their roots.

The EPW report clearly illustrates the futility–if not immorality–of conversions, of the failure of Hindus to reform themselves quickly, and the direction of the Dalit movement. A prominent theme–if not the entire focus–of the EPW report is a plea/demand for Reservations for Dalit Christians. It is another illustration of the consequence of setting bad political precedents. The report clearly articulates the precedent by calling for a Dalit Christian vote bank to achieve its objective.

…politicians will remain uncommitted on this issue since the dalit Christians do not constitute a comprehensive vote bank. Conferring or denying reservation for dalit Christians will be predominantly determined by the electoral prospects.

Finally, taking all these facts into account the government should demand that the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities submit its report at the earliest and the report should be carefully examined. The prime minister should make proactive statements as he did with regard to the Sachar Committee Report and bring the dalit Christians under the umbrella of reservation within a stipulated period.

Are Dalit Christians like thousands of other oppressed groups, justified in asking for Reservations? If it’s granted, where and when does it stop? I shudder at proposing any solution: too many ugly precedents have obliterated any possibility of solution. Where does one begin cleaning the mess?  We’ve completely lost consciousness of the idea of cultural unity of India, which in fact is the real idea of India. At no point in its history was India so aware of so many differences, and carved out neat niches of separateness. 

The Cyncial Demon inside me has convinced me of the futility of following up the Reservations issue. Our politicians will divide the nation to its logical end where it’s each man for himself.

Crossposted on INI Signal and Desicritics.