Seeds of Liberation (Unveiling India's Apartheid, Part 2, by Adam Taylor)
As our motorcade approached the Dalit village of Nayagarh, we could see the bright and brilliant image of 500 Dalit women gathered to welcome us, their saris forming a kaleidoscope of color. Cheers and whistles erupted from the crowd of women as we approached. I felt like a presidential candidate as I passed through the crowd, shaking as many hands as I could reach, wanting to make human contact with women whose dignity is so often demeaned and whose worth too often dismissed. These women had formed 130 self-help groups composed of 10 other women in villages across the region to invest in entrepreneurial projects that generate income and create a better life for their families and villages. They had come to show off their products and seek additional assistance from Operation Mercy Charitable Company (OMCC), an initiative supported by Operation Mobilization India (OM) and the All India Christian Council (AICC) that provides training and micro-loans. The women proudly showed off their products, ranging from beautiful saris to rice and roti. Access to loans are providing the keys to emancipation from bonded labor and careers of doing the most degrading work, such as cleaning latrines.
Many of these women also send their children to an English instruction school that has been set up by OMCC, funded in part through the Dalit Freedom Network. The majority of Dalit children are either denied access to primary education or only receive instruction in Hindi or other native languages. The public school system has become a dismal refuge for the children of the lower and middle castes, where Dalit students face daily abuse by teachers and students. According to a government report, 73 percent of Dalit students drop out in secondary school. Instruction in English represents a passport to higher education and India's service- and high-tech economy. Already OMCC has set up 81 schools in rural villages across the country. The combination of educational opportunity and asset creation are planting seeds of social and economic empowerment.
Educational opportunities provided by the missions and churches have built a new generation of Dalit Christian leaders ...
... including Rev. Sam Paul, AICC national secretary of public affairs, and Albert Lael, OMCC national director. While the Brahmin caste still dominates church leadership, caste is slowly dying within the church and is all but dead in the more recent wave of churches. During a meeting in Bhubaneswar, I had the privilege of meeting more than 30 pastors active in the All India Christian Council from across the region, including a Catholic archbishop who is leading the fight for their freedom, the most Rev. Raphael Cheenath. These leaders on the front lines of the Dalit freedom movement shared their stories of struggle, and I shared information about the American civil rights movement. According to these leaders, while the church has played an instrumental role in economic and social empowerment, the reticence of many churches to confront systemic injustice still poses a major obstacle. Many churches, particularly evangelical ones, have preferred to remain apolitical, focusing almost exclusively on saving souls. This trend started to shift in the late 1990s with the creation of the All India Christian Council, which built on earlier work by other denominationally-based organizations. The Council was created in the aftermath of a brutal killing in Orissa in which an Australian missionary and his two young sons were burned alive by Hindu radicals. With its back against the wall, church leaders united to protest persecution and advance religious freedom within India. The Council formed strong interfaith relationships. And, in the process, the Council became more engaged in politics and came face to face with the oppression suffered by Dalits. As the AICC shifts its focus to include the Dalit cause, it risks losing support from within and outside of India. Religious persecution seems to galvanize attention and incite moral indignation much more than fighting a hidden and entrenched system of caste oppression.
The struggle for Dalit freedom appears to be on the tipping point of bursting forth into a social movement. India's free press, strong civil society, and good laws provide key ingredients for such a movement. With greater political empowerment and cohesion, the Dalits, scheduled tribes, and lower-caste Indians could form a formidable swing constituency in Indian politics. However, according to political science professor Dr. Kancha Ilaiah, of Osmania University in Hyderabad, "in the context of elections many Dalits remain disenfranchised and are bribed through money or alcohol." Language barriers, factions in leadership, and religious differences have also stifled national unity. Despite these barriers, Dalits have made a number of historic political gains. In 1997, a Dalit woman, Mayawati Kumari, was elected to the top post in the state of Uttar Pradesh in a landslide victory in which she was able to garner support across castes, including from high-caste Brahmins. While Uttar Pradesh benefits from the largest concentration of Dalits, elements of this success story can be replicated in other parts of India. The Dalit vote was also pivotal in bringing the more nonsectarian Congress Party back to national power in 2004. In 2006 Manmohan Singh became the first sitting prime minister to publicly acknowledge the parallel between the practice of "untouchability" and the crime of "apartheid."
Despite the encouraging rhetoric of the Congress Party, a chasm still exists between words and action to redress the Dalit plight. The weight of 3,000 years of caste precedent and tradition can feel overwhelming and intractable. However, seeds of empowerment have already been planted and are bearing fruit in the fertile soil for Dalit liberation. The upcoming national elections will provide another test and opportunity.
Adam Taylor is the senior political director for Sojourners.
Learn more at:
Overcoming Caste: For Those Working to Build an Integrated India, 'Hope Starts and Ends With the Schools' The Washington Post
Educating India's 'Untouchables' The Guardian
UN CEDAW, Concluding Observations: India, 2007
Prime Minister of India speech at the Dalit-Minority International Conference in New Delhi
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Comments
Like many Indians and Hindus I am ashamed of and disgusted with the treatment of dalits and women in India. Certainly things are improving and people are being empowered but there is a long way to go. I am very grateful for the work of christian organizations to fight oppression, especially the worst kind such as human trafficking and slavery. Though I am not a Christian in the formal sense, I consider myself an admirer and follower of Jesus' teachings.
Just want to clarify couple of things. Christianity is not despised in India, as far as I know. I think the actions of Hindu fundamentalists against Christian missionaries comes out of their fear that Hinduism will get wiped out by Christianity. Also, while it has its roots in religion, the persistence of caste system is more of a social phenomenon, and it really has to do with people wanting to maintain their power and status in society. Hopefully the younger generation is going beyond it. In general, both Hindu fundamentalism and caste system are perversions of the religion by power hungry people.
Posted by: Sankar Sitaraman | July 4, 2008 2:39 PM
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New Delhi, June, 2008: The Dalit Christians on Friday asked the Church leadership to stop fraudulent conversion in India among Dalits and Tribals. And it further demand that the foreign funds received by the church be used for the welfare and upliftment of the poor Christians who are suffering from the discrimination. The convention strongly urged the Govt of India not to appoint Bishops, priests and nuns in the government commissions and committed but instead it should appoint ordinary Christians. These and many other demands are raised in a resolution adopted at the national conventions organized by the Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) headed by R.L.Francis.
The convention urged the “Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the National Christian Council of India (NCCI) to set up a 1000 crore “Dalit Christian Development” fund to ensure integrated social and economic development.
Considering the confusion created by the propagation activities in the far flung areas the convention adopted a resolution urging the church authorities to defer the mass conversion programme. The resolution stated that, “This assembly unanimously believes that evangelism cannot be a measurement of a society’s socio-economic development. Therefore, evangelism programme should be suspended for long years and funds should be saved and utilized for the welfare of Dalits and Trible Christians and deprived sections of society for creating awareness among them.”
The resolution also demanded reservation of seats for Dalit and Trible Christians as well as other Dalits in Church-run schools, colleges, technical institutions and other vocational organizations.
Three hundred delegates from different parts of the country, who attended the convention, alleged that a handful of priests and bishops were monopolizing the Church funds and property in the country. This has led to the worsening conditions of neo converted Christians were living in a pitiable condition and deprived of the basic necessities.
In his address, the National President R.L. Francis said that the church leadership is interested only in increasing the numbers and is hardly bothering about their living conditions. The biggest proof of this was that a large chunk of foreign funds were being utilized either for purchasing land and for the luxurious lifestyles of few Christians leaders in India . Bishops are monopolizing the Church estates and treating it as their own property and are indulging in its sale-purchase without the consent of the community,” he alleged.
Mr. Jawahar Singh, President Gertor India Foundation said 90 per cent to the maids working in cantt and its surrounding areas are Dalit and Trible Christians. Their children do not even complete their primary education, he said. Mr. Singh said that when he went to the priest of the church in the area to discuss the issue of maids and their children; he refused to say anything.
Mr. P B Lomeo, Christian activist and editor of a church newspaper, alleged that not one of the 40,000 educational institutions run by the church give admission to the children of Dalit Christians. The PCLM, which was launched to help Dalit and Trible Christians and provide them with a platform to express their grief, is the most powerful for them, Mr.Lomeo said.
Fr. William Premdass Chaudhary a catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Delhi said that “ in last two decades many poor Christians have gone back to Hinduism due to maltreatment by the church. “Even myself was treated bad fly as I am local Christian and not given any assiyment by Bishop of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese because I am a Dalit and local Priest.” he further stated.
Mr. Balbir Punj, a senior BJP think tank and member of Rajya SAbha suggested that the Church in India should honestly make a model for the progress of Dalits Christians. He also called for moratorium on conversion for the next ten years.
Raising the question of future of Christian children in India , well known human rights activist Joseph Gathia urged the Govt of India and the Supreme Court to redefine minority educational institutions. He further demanded declassification of those Christian minority institutions who do not admit Christian’s children in their schools.
Mr. Joseph Gathia opposed the caste base reservation for Christian community in India as it would institutionalize the discrimination in Christianity which is against its very basic principle. Such a move would darken the future of poor Christina’s children in India .
At National Convention, Mr. Meharban James, Bishop R.B.Sandu, Mr. Ashok Bharti, P.N. Ambdker and others express their views reading Casteism in Church.. The copies of the resolution passed in the convention would be sending to the Pope, the World Council of Churches, and Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and UPA chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi..
Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) Resolution for National Convention
Nearly 300 delegates from different parts of the country who gather at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi passed the following resolutions unanimously on Friday 6th June 2008.
I Resolution:
We demand that Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI), National Council for churches in India (NCCI) and other church organizations drop the demand for pushing back the poor Christians in to the category of Scheduled Caste status. The teaching of Jesus Christ does not permit to discriminate among his followers. All Christians are born in the image of God.
If the Church in India pursue the reservation for Christians on the basis of caste then it must pay compensation to the poor Christians who got converted to the Christianity long back.
II Resolution:
(a) We urge the Govt. of India to institute a law allowing the Christians minority institutions to admit 50 % student who are Christians. Any Christians educational institute claiming Minority Status be punished if they refuse admission to a Christian child. Currently there is no such provision therefore the Church educational institutions are fearless. Those not following the directive be declassified and put under the Income Tax Act as commercial venture.
(b) We further urged the Govt hat no clergy (Bishops, priests and nuns) be appointed in Government committee, commissions etc. Instead the Govt should appointed ordinary Christians as the members such committees and commissions.. It has been observed that due to such appointments the Bishops, priests, and nuns are deviating format their original work of the Church and misusing their positions and funds.
(C) that the Government of India to introduce special laws to protect Church property and land as currently it is being misused and Sold by few interested group of people. As the land was given by the Govt of India long back on perpetual lease it is very much within the right to introduce such laws in the interest of the Christian community in India and for the betterment of the Dalit and Trible Christians.
III Resolution:
(a) We earnestly urge the Vatican to follow protest pattern in appointing the bishops in India, appointment of bishop by concesious of the local people. The Poor Christian Liberation Movement is opposed to the current procedure of appointing the Bishop in the Diocese by the top from Vatican who is not aware of the local conditions. The Vatican must follow the same law which is being followed in China.
(b) Representatives at the National Convention demand to CBCI to appoint lay people (especially Dalit and Tribal Christians) at the important positions in the institutions of Catholic Church.
(c) The Church in India is the largest employments giver after the Govt of India. Hence we demand that to solve the unemployment problem among poor Christians 50 % job reservations in Christian’s educational and medical institutions for these category be reserved in the Church institutions.
IV Resolution:
(a) Churches are bringing fund from abroad and spending crores of rupees on evangelization which creates confusion among the religions and bring disunity in the country. Evangelization must be stopped. Let the population grow within the religions. Church should not criticize another religion. Let all the religions grow freely. Church leaders must spend crores of rupees for the upliftment of the Dalit and Trible Christians rather than on evangelization.
(b) The Poor Christian Liberation Movement feels that a time has come when pluralistic societies are to be accepted. It has already been done in the Western Christians countries. Therefore the focus on fraudulent conversion and only increasing number of “rice Christians” would not really serve the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church in India needs to promote multi culturalism and inter faith dialogues.
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(c) In order to facilitate resource for education and training for the children of the poor Christians particularly girls a 1000 crore rupee fund be created in India by the Church. Such fund would help the Christian community to become self sufficient in the long run.
We feel that the time has come for Christians in India to suggest their Christian brethren and sisters in the West that all afforts must be made to make the community self sufficient and not dependent. We the Christians in India wish that the foreign funds must be diverted to poor people of Africa.
(d) We strong feel that the Church leaders should prove themselves as good shepherds who can lead their sheep selflessly and serve OUR LORD Jesus Christ as per his teachings. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor.
MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE US IN OUR ENDEAVOUR.
Posted by: pclm | July 6, 2008 1:01 AM
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