Questions for the church and the State

The publication of the report of the Justice (Retd) J.B. Koshy Commission on Christian Minorities has put the spotlight on reservation, caste and conversion in Kerala. The 357-page report is now available to the public in full after the State Cabinet accepted it in principle on February 24. Among other things, the report recommends that the Christian community be accorded minority benefits proportionate to their share in the State’s population. The three-member panel led by Mr. Koshy, a former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, had submitted its report in May 2023 and ever since, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had been under pressure from Christian denominations to publish it and implement the recommendations. Now, with State elections right around the corner, the report is sure to ignite serious debate in Kerala. 

Forming the committee

The Kerala government had constituted the J.B Koshy Commission in 2020 after various groups, including the Syro-Malabar Church, complained that the Christian community faced discrimination among Kerala’s minorities. The Muslim and Christian communities are formidable minorities among the numerically stronger Hindus in Kerala. Over the decades, the Christian community has played an exceptional role in developing the educational, economic and socio-political fabric of Kerala. However, more recently, the community has felt that it has been increasingly short-changed by political and government policies, especially those dealing with representation, reservations and minority welfare benefits. Dwindling numbers (the report places the share of Christians in the State population at 19.05% in 2001 and 14.28% in 2019); increasing migration; and growing ecological problems in Kerala’s eastern hill regions and the western coastline, two of the traditional strongholds of Christians, add to the community’s concerns.

Also read | Cabinet’s in-principle nod for J.B. Koshy Commission report

Through its recommendations, the Commission has sought to address the concerns of the Christian community in general (related to education and employment), as well as specific issues faced by its backward, numerically-smaller and less-privileged sections such as the Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity (SCCC), the Latin Catholics and the Anglo Indians. The Commission’s observation on Dalit Christians (SCCC) is especially noteworthy: “As far as the SCCC Christians are concerned, their situation is far more dismal than the Scheduled Castes before their conversion.” It notes that their former social infirmities have persisted even after converting to Christianity. These observations place not just modern-day Kerala society, which takes pride in its social reformation movement, in the dock, but the church as well.

The standing of the church

Underprivileged sections of the Hindu community had opted for Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries to escape entrenched casteist aggression, oppression and social discrimination. However, conversion disqualified the SCCCs from SC reservation benefits. The report recommends that, in the interests of natural justice, the SCCC sections too be made eligible for the same benefits. The Commission’s observations rekindle the debate whether conversion erases caste or not. Furthermore, they point to the realities of the seemingly invisible social stratas that persist among Christians in Kerala, whose traditions hark back to the Apostle St. Thomas and the much later Portuguese and British arrivals.

Many of the recommendations underline the need for a fair distribution of minority benefits. In its report, the Commission mentions complaints lodged before it questioning the ‘skewed’ deployment of reservation and welfare measures and the need for fair treatment for the Christian community in this regard. It remains to be seen how the Kerala government approaches these concerns. Announcing the publication of the report, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had stated that some of the recommendations have already been implemented, but the ones that require deeper study or legislative amendments remain. Such issues demand sensitivity, diplomacy and balanced strategies that look beyond caste or religion-centric politics. They can scarcely be treated in isolation, given the distinctive, interwoven nature of Kerala’s social milieu.