The All India Christian Council, a partner of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), has announced that it will be holding a National Rally for Dalit Christian reservation in Hyderabad, India on Nov. 26th, 2005.
Approximately 50,000 Dalit Christians from all over India are expected to gather, and all the leaders of India’s political parties and human rights groups have been invited to participate.The rally has been organised with the aim to reveal the vast support for the legal challenge to discrimination against Dalits that embrace both Christianity and Islam.
Currently the discrimination has been challenged at the country’s Supreme Court by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation. The next meeting regarding this will take place on Nov. 28.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has revealed that about 17 percent of India’s population, which equates to a huge 180 million people, are Dalits (formerly referred to as “untouchables”). In addition, it is believed that 60 percent of India’s estimated 25million Christians are in fact Dalits.
CSW has joined the All India Christian Council in its campaign to raise awareness of the Dalits’ plight, which has seen them face centuries of oppression in the Indian caste system.
Dalits have been forced throughout the history to perform the most menial of tasks, and very often some of the most hazardous jobs in India. It has also been highlighted that Dalit women have even been sold into prostitution as part of their oppression.To deny Dalit Christians benefits because of their religious affiliation is to discriminate against them on the basis of religion and deny them fundamental constitutional rights.
Joseph D'Souza, President All India Christian Council
Many restaurants keep separate drinking vessels for Dalit use, and Dalits often live downstream of the higher castes, as they are considered a polluting influence.
