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The Dalit Christians to stop fraudulent conversion in India

The Dalit Christians on Friday asked the Church leadership to stop fraudulent conversion in India among Dalits and Tribals. And it further demand that the foreign funds received by the church be used for the welfare and upliftment of the poor Christians who are suffering from the discrimination. The convention strongly urged the Govt of India not to appoint Bishops, priests and nuns in the government commissions and committed but instead it should appoint ordinary Christians. These and many other demands are raised in a resolution adopted at the national conventions organized by the Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) headed by R.L.Francis.

POOR CHRISTIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT Co-office : A-163, DDA Flats Gazipur, Delhi - 96 Office : IIIA/ 145, Rachana, Vashali- 201 010 (NCR) Telefax : 95120-2772449 Mob. 9810108046 E-mail : francispclm@yahoo.com www.Dalitchristian.org

The convention urged the “Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the National Christian Council of India (NCCI) to set up a 1000 crore “Dalit Christian Development” fund to ensure integrated social and economic development.

Considering the confusion created by the propagation activities in the far flung areas the convention adopted a resolution urging the church authorities to defer the mass conversion programme. The resolution stated that, “This assembly unanimously believes that evangelism cannot be a measurement of a society’s socio-economic development. Therefore, evangelism programme should be suspended for long years and funds should be saved and utilized for the welfare of Dalits and Trible Christians and deprived sections of society for creating awareness among them.”

The resolution also demanded reservation of seats for Dalit and Trible Christians as well as other Dalits in Church-run schools, colleges, technical institutions and other vocational organizations.

Three hundred delegates from different parts of the country, who attended the convention, alleged that a handful of priests and bishops were monopolizing the Church funds and property in the country. This has led to the worsening conditions of neo converted Christians were living in a pitiable condition and deprived of the basic necessities.

In his address, the National President R.L. Francis said that the church leadership is interested only in increasing the numbers and is hardly bothering about their living conditions. The biggest proof of this was that a large chunk of foreign funds were being utilized either for purchasing land and for the luxurious lifestyles of few Christians leaders in India . Bishops are monopolizing the Church estates and treating it as their own property and are indulging in its sale-purchase without the consent of the community,” he alleged.

Mr. Jawahar Singh, President Gertor India Foundation said 90 per cent to the maids working in cantt and its surrounding areas are Dalit and Trible Christians. Their children do not even complete their primary education, he said. Mr. Singh said that when he went to the priest of the church in the area to discuss the issue of maids and their children ; he refused to say anything.

Mr. P B Lomeo, Christian activist and editor of a church newspaper, alleged that not one of the 40,000 educational institutions run by the church give admission to the children of Dalit Christians. The PCLM, which was launched to help Dalit and Trible Christians and provide them with a platform to express their grief, is the most powerful for them, Mr.Lomeo said.

Fr. William Premdass Chaudhary a catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Delhi said that “ in last two decades many poor Christians have gone back to Hinduism due to maltreatment by the church. “Even myself was treated bad fly as I am local Christian and not given any assiyment by Bishop of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese because I am a Dalit and local Priest.” he further stated.

Mr. Balbir Punj, a senior BJP think tank and member of Rajya SAbha suggested that the Church in India should honestly make a model for the progress of Dalits Christians. He also called for moratorium on conversion for the next ten years.

Raising the question of future of Christian children in India , well known human rights activist Joseph Gathia urged the Govt of India and the Supreme Court to redefine minority educational institutions. He further demanded declassification of those Christian minority institutions who do not admit Christian’s children in their schools. Mr. Joseph Gathia opposed the caste base reservation for Christian community in India as it would institutionalize the discrimination in Christianity which is against its very basic principle. Such a move would darken the future of poor Christina’s children in India .

At National Convention, Mr. Meharban James, Bishop R.B.Sandu, Mr. Ashok Bharti, P.N. Ambdker and others express their views reading Casteism in Church.. The copies of the resolution passed in the convention would be sending to the Pope, the World Council of Churches, and Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and UPA chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi..

Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) Resolution for National Convention Nearly 300 delegates from different parts of the country who gather at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi passed the following resolutions unanimously on Friday 11th July 2008.

I Resolution : We demand that Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI), National Council for churches in India (NCCI) and other church organizations drop the demand for pushing back the poor Christians in to the category of Scheduled Caste status. The teaching of Jesus Christ does not permit to discriminate among his followers. All Christians are born in the image of God.

If the Church in India pursue the reservation for Christians on the basis of caste then it must pay compensation to the poor Christians who got converted to the Christianity long back.

An Open Letter of the Dalit Christians to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

January 04, 2008

An Open Letter of the Dalit Christians to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Indian Parliamentarians and Indian Church Authorities

The Hon’ble Prime Minister,
152, South Block,
New Delhi -110 011

Wish you Happy Christmas and New Year.

For the last several decades, the Indian Church Authorities and its Leaders at National and International level have been subtly pressurizing the Indian Government to make suitable amendments in the Constitution to include converted Dalit Christians in the list of Schedule Castes. Our Constitution founders and framers had seen the validity of assuring equality and respect to Dalit Hindus in their Hindu fold, while they were not clear as to the implications of the same with Dalit Christians. Hence they formulated the provision for Hindu Dalit reservation for Schedule Caste in the Constitution. The Hindu community as a majority of peoples accepted reservations as a just and fair provision. Thus the Indian constitution gave equal right to the Dalit Hindus because they suffered ill treatment and were oppressed in the society over the centuries. It was a fair and just compensation to the Dalit Hindus for the exploitation done to them.

While Dalit Hindus- who were converted to Christianity- lost their privilege of reservation policy and thus they were not included in the list of Schedule Caste. The Converted Dalit Christians had ‘an historic option’ to decide whether to accept their original religion-Hinduism and return to their community and thus avail the facility of Schedule Caste but most of the Dalit Christians forsook the reservation policy and they decided to remain Dalit Christians (DC) mainly because DCs fondly recalled the words of Jesus Christ: “Come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt Ch. 11:28)

The Number Game

When St. Stephen’s College set aside, for Dalit Christians, 25 per cent of the minority quota seats now fixed at 40 per cent --- that is 10 per cent of the total 410 undergraduate places ---- questions were raised as to who constitute this group. Valson Thampu, who recently took over as Officer on Special Duty at the college, said that one could tell who a Dalit or a Scheduled Caste person was. Dalit Christians are “those who come from low-caste backgrounds, or are social backward,” says the policy proponent. The college will go by candidates’ certificates issued by their church certifying them as Dalits. “I have to trust the church,” said Thampu. Three leading persons of the community, however, said that, at times, it could be hard to identify a Dalit Christian, particularly on the basis of surnames.

Christians: lowest illiteracy rate

New Delhi, May, 2007: Christians have the lowest illiteracy levels in the country but the highest unemployment rate, according to a recently released government survey for 2004-05. “In rural areas, the unemployment rates were higher among the Christians (4.4 per cent) as compared to those among the Hindus (1.5 per cent) or Muslims (2.3 per cent). In the urban areas also the same pattern was observed” the survey said. Christians also had the lowest illiteracy rate for both rural and urban areas. The survey covered 7,999 villages and 1, 24,680 sample households. – Zee News.

Poor Christians urged to fight for their right

New Delhi, Easter Sunday 8 April 2007: Dalit Christians Organisation ‘Poor Christian Liberation Movement’ (PCLM) damands compensation from the Indian Church authority / leaders on, Easter Sunday, 8 April 2007. The movement puts on allegation on the structure of the church which alloeus casteism, fortiality and esefloitation, and the leaders/ authority of the church has foiled to eradieate these social evels from the church. Seventy percentage (70%) of Dalit Christians are suffering of these social evels and being exploited in the Indian Church.

PCLM calls on Churches to end discrimination

New Delhi, December 25, 2006: Dalit Christians Organisation ‘Poor Christian Liberation Movement’ (PCLM) damands compensation from the Indian Church authority/ leaders on Christmas, December 25, 2006. The movement puts on allegation on the structure of the church which alloeus casteism, fortiality and esefloitation, and the leaders/ authority of the church has foiled to eradieate these social evels from the church. Seventy percentage (70%) of Dalit Christians are suffering of these social evels and being exploited in the Indian Church.

Dalit Christians Protest against denial of Constitutional rights

New Delhi, March 9, 2005: Hundreds of Dalit Christians staged a protest march and dharna at Jantar Mantar, near Parliament House, New Delhi, urging the Indian Church to give ample compensation for the upliftment and development of the Dalit Christian community numbering over 2.5 crores.

Organized by the Poor Christian Liberation Movement under the leadership of Dalit Christian leader, Mr. A.K. Ambrose, Convener, Delhi Unit of the Movement, men, women and children demonstrators were carrying placards and banners demanding compensation for the education, better living and employment opportunities for Christian Dalit and weaker sections.

Church neglected Dalit Christians

New Delhi, February 21, 2005: Poor Christian Liberation Movement has been protesting and waging a struggle against ‘discrimination with Converted Dalit Christians’, who form a formidable 70% of the Christian population in India. This majority has been pleading with the 30% powerful minority Non-Dalit Christians to be treated as per doctrine of Christianity. But the Church leadership as well as the elite Christians have been demanding that Dalit Christians be included in the list of Scheduled Castes. They have the Catholic Bishop Conference of India, and other formidable Church Bodies and structures to back them up.