- EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 21/Jul 23:12

India’s Maharashtra State Threatens Action Against ‘Crypto-Christians’

By Michael Gonsalves (UCA News) -- Church leaders and activists have criticized India’s Maharashtra state for threatening legal action against Dalit Christians, who allegedly benefited from  India’s affirmative action program. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the state government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on July 17 that legal action will be taken against Dalit people from religions other than the three recognized — Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh — ones for claiming benefits. Christian leaders say the move aims to target “Crypto Christians,” a term BJP leaders use to describe people who they say follow the Christian faith but officially remain Dalit Hindus to claim benefits from affirmative action. The Indian Constitution provides welfare benefits to Dalit people, who were once considered untouchable. However, Christians and Muslims among them are denied these benefits — such as job quotas, financial help for education, and seats in state-run academic institutions and legislative bodies — arguing that their religions do not subscribe to the Hindu caste system. Fadnavis told the State legislative council that action will be taken against “Crypto Christians" who have secured reservation benefits, such as government jobs and educational benefits. He said India’s Supreme Court on Nov. 26, 2024, clarified that the reservation benefits, meant for Dalit people, officially called Scheduled Castes (SCs), are available only to Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, and not to those belonging to other religions. Fadnavis threatened to recover monetary benefits that anyone received from the government using “fraudulently obtained caste certificates.” “This is already happening in some other states in India. The basic issue is the injustice done to the Dalit Christians by denying their rights,” Father Anthoniraj Thumma, national secretary of Catholic Bishops Conference of India Office for Dialogue and Desk for Ecumenism, told UCA News on July 20. The priest said two decades ago, Christians and Muslim leaders jointly petitioned the Supreme Court to end the discrimination against Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin. He said the discrimination began in 1950 when a presidential order reserved these benefits only for Dalit Hindus, saying Dalit people exist only among Hindus. The order was later amended twice to include Sikhs and Buddhists. However, successive governments refused to amend the order to include Christians in the list despite persistent demands from Christian leaders. Dalit Christians face "double discrimination" as they have to face social and state discrimination, they say. “Nearly 20 cases relating to this Constitutional anomaly have been pending in the Supreme Court for about 20 years. This delay itself is also denying them their rights,” Thumma pointed out. In 2022, the federal government, led by Modi, appointed a commission to study the socio-economic conditions of Dalit people and determine their eligibility for social welfare benefits. Thumma said since the federal government and the Supreme Court are considering the issue, the Maharashtra government can wait before taking any drastic steps, which will result in further injustice and suffering for Dalit Christians. “There seems to be a competition between BJP-ruled states and their chief ministers to see who can come up with the best ways to persecute religious minorities, both Christian and Muslim, in their respective states,” said John Dayal, a senior journalist and rights activist. Dayal, a spokesperson of All India Catholic Union, told UCA News that Indian churches are visited by people of every community, “not necessarily because they have converted or want to convert, but in search of peace and moral and spiritual support.” “This is the secular interfaith tradition of India and people cannot be penalized for this,” he said. A C Michael, national coordinator of United Christian Forum, a New Delhi-based ecumenical group, said many people have accepted Jesus Christ for different reasons, but continue to be Hindus, Buddhists, or Sikhs. “It is a great injustice that despite the fundamental right to follow any faith depending on one's own belief, governments [federal and state] deny benefits to those who changed their faith of their own will,” he said.