ICC Note:
Christians in India have demanded that the Indian government extend Scheduled Caste Rights to Christians who come from low caste backgrounds. When India became independent, the government extended Scheduled Caste Rights to Hindus from low caste backgrounds in an effort to assist these individuals to break free of the burden of the caste system. Today, Scheduled Caste Rights have only been extended to low caste members of the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist communities in India forcing many low caste people to chose between officially converting to Christianity and losing their Scheduled Caste Rights. Please pray that India will do the right thing and give Christians equal rights in India.
8/11/2014 India (Zee News) – Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) on Sunday joined National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) in observing ‘Black Day’ demanding acceptance of Christians as Schedule Caste.
Members of the Baptist Church pinned a piece of black cloth on their shirts and held mass prayers in all the local churches in the morning services.
In a message distributed to the local churches, BCM General Secretary Rev. H Lianngaia said that Indian Constitution in 1950 allowed only Hindus to become Scheduled Caste while the amendment in 1956 allowed Sikhs and Buddhists.
“Christians and Muslims were not allowed to be given Scheduled Caste status,” he said.
The Constitutional provision hindered missionaries in their missions to convert Scheduled Caste people like the Dalits as they ceased to enjoy the status once they converted to Christianity, he added.
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