SC status sought for Dalit Christians in A.P.

Representatives of All India Bahujan Samaj Party (AIBSP), Christian Coordination Council (CCC) and the community leaders on Tuesday demanded that the government grant Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Christians of Dalit origin. The leaders raised concerns over what they described as the continued failure of the successive governments in Andhra Pradesh to resolve the issue.

Addressing the media, former DGP J. Purnachandra Rao alleged that successive governments headed by Chief Ministers from dominant communities, including Kamma and Reddy leadership, for decades had not made adequate efforts to secure a favourable decision from the Centre.

Despite having political influence at the national level, the issue was not accorded a priority, he alleged.

Pointing to the implementation of the reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), he said political leadership had acted with speed and coordination to extend benefits to the dominant communities, while the long-pending demand of Dalit Christians had not received with similar urgency.

“If governments could move swiftly to ensure EWS reservations for the Kammas and Reddies, why has there been no comparable effort to secure SC status for Dalit Christians for over seven decades?” he asked.

Mr. Rao said that Dalit Christians continued to face untouchability, social exclusion and economic backwardness, but were denied SC status solely on the basis of religion. He argued that this amounted to ‘discrimination’ and called for corrective action in line with constitutional principles.

Former IAS officer Samuel Anand Kumar, CCC president Ashok Kumar and others demanded the repeal of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the granting of SC status to Dalit Christians. Later, the leasders submitted a representation addressed to the President of India to the NTR district Collector.