PRESS STATEMENT
15 NOVEMBER 2007
In democratic India, even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the bigoted, xenophobic and hyper nationalist founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has the right to take a political position on various issues, but the Supreme Court of India, the Union Government and the Election commission must take note of the threatening tone of resolutions recently adopted by its executive committee in their annual meeting.
These resolutions not only challenge Constitutional guarantees to the minorities, but are specially targeted at Christians and Muslims to instill fear and terror in the two communities.
The resolution also seeks to blackmail and coerce the Government of India by saying there will be “serious consequences” if the rights of the Dalit Christians and Muslims, taken away the nefarious Presidential Order of 1950, are restored.
The RSS also threads on thin legal ice when it charges the minorities with “brazenness” in moving the Supreme Court of India for the restoration of their rights, a demand which have been supported by the National Commission for Religious and Linguistics Minorities headed by former Chief justice of India Rangnath Misra. The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of writ petitions by Dalit groups on the issue. The next hearing is scheduled for later in November.
Every law abiding citizen and organisation, including the Government, must condemn this arrogant attack on the right of aggrieved people to seek redress in the highest court in the land.
Not content with its vitriolic against the minority communities and their leadership, the RSS goes further in creating a confrontation between Dalits espousing various faith.
The BJP is contesting elections in Gujarat and Himachal and its resolutions go against the letter and spirit of the Code imposed by the Election Commission.
I hope the Chief Election Commissioner and other Commissioners will take Suo Moto cognisance of the RSS resolutions.
The following is the text of the RSS resolution against rights for Dalit Christians]
The Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal takes strong exception to the recommendation of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) popularly known as Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission that the Scheduled Caste status must be “completely delinked from religion” and “all those groups and classes among the Muslims and Christians should also be covered by the Scheduled Castes net”. What is more intriguing is the Commission’s effort to project its recommendations as consistent with the “letter and spirit of the constitutional provisions”.
The ABKM is of the view that, in reality, these recommendations are against the basic spirit of the Constitution and in negation of all the efforts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who struggled relentlessly in his personal and public life to reform the Hindu society. Besides, these recommendations are also an aggression on the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and a major impediment to their uplift.
The ABKM feels that the Commission has failed to take note of the fact that the framers of our Constitution, after prolonged deliberations, concluded that caste system is a part only of Hindu society and hence the reservations offered to the Scheduled Castes must be confined to Hindus only. The ABKM also wants to remind that the Church leadership, with an eye to increasing their numbers, has been vigorously campaigning for the inclusion of the converts into the Scheduled Castes purview which was steadfastly resisted by all the right-thinking leaders during the making of the Constitution as well as in the last six decades.
The ABKM decries the brazenness of the petitioners, who have gone to the Supreme Court with the demand of inclusion of the Christian converts in the Scheduled Castes category, with the contention that “the Dalits remain Dalits even after converting to Christianity”. Christianity claims that there is no caste system in it. It is a matter of shame that the Church leaders, in their greed for harvesting a few more souls, have no qualms in endorsing the petitioners’ contention which is against the proclaimed basic tenets of Christianity.
The ABKM reiterates that the demand for the converts to be treated on par with the Scheduled Castes is against the provisions of the Constitution since only castes, races or tribes can be deemed to be Scheduled Castes under Article 341 of the Constitution.
The ABKM cautions the government that any effort to implement the recommendations of the NCRLM, which are against the Constitution, is fraught with serious consequences. It calls upon the government not to succumb to the pressure tactics of the Church lobby in politics and outside and to stand steadfast on the path carved out by the leaders of the country in the last several decades by rejecting outright the demand for inclusion of such converts into the Scheduled Castes category.
The ABKM is of the considered opinion that the Church leadership is indulging in this duplicitous contention with the conspiracy to encourage mass conversions from the Scheduled Castes. It is clear that the reservations, if extended to the converts, would be considerably eaten up by the converts thus pushing the already backward Scheduled Castes into further backwardness.
The ABKM appeals to the countrymen in general and the Scheduled Caste brethren in particular to resist any move by the vote-hungry politicians in that direction which is going to be detrimental to the welfare of the Scheduled Castes. The ABKM calls upon all the swayamsevaks to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our Scheduled Caste brethren in their efforts to safeguard the interests of the community.
Dr. John Dayal
Member: National Integration Council
Government of India
National President: All India Catholic Union (Founded 1919)
Secretary General: All India Christian Council (Founded 1999)
President: United Christian Action, Delhi (Founded 1992)
505 Link, 18 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 India
Email: johndayal@vsnl.com
http://groups.google.com/group/JohnDayal
Phone: 91-11-22722262 Mobile 09811021072
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