Full Text: Christian Dalits in Revolt

The full text of the Christian Dalits in Revolt is reproduced here verbatim from the original paper by A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel. This article first appeared in ‘Jeevadhara,’ a journal of ‘Christian Interpretation: Indian Churches at the Crossroads’ Vol. XXIII No 136, July 1993 edited by Kuncheria Pathil, Jeevadhara Office, Kottayam.

This version preserves the original wording, structure, and formatting as presented in the source document.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Historical Background
3. Churches’ policy and its impact
4. The Response of the Christian Dalits
5. Justice within the Christian Church
6. Notes

Introduction

In recent years, Dalits who constitute a great majority in the Christian Community in India have become a restive people, although an open defiance of the leadership of the Church is limited to certain parishes, diocese and denominations. The cause of this widespread discontentedness among them is often explained in terms of their economic, educational and pastoral demands on the Church, persistence of religio-cultural discrimination against them within the Christian churches, churches’ failure to protect them against the atrocities of caste people, and their under-representation in the decision-making bodies in the churches. Though these explanations are true as far as the every day life of the Dalits are concerned, these should be understood more as the symptoms of the disease than the disease itself. The root cause of the disease has to do with the Church’s perception of its role and ministry and the consequent failures in its policies in the post-independent India.

In this paper I would like to first of all deal with these policy perceptions as an excercise of self-examination. It needs to be debated within churches. Secondly, I will give a short account of the recent response of the Dalits to the problems faced by them.

Historical Background

In the pre-independent India, Dalits/Tribals¹ embraced Christianity largely in mass movements in different parts of the country. One of the major considerations that weighed with them in favour of Christianity was the political patronage and protection the missionaries offered them against the traditional cultural and economic oppression within the Hindu society. In other words, in Christian missionary work, the Dalits/Tribals saw an instrument of their social liberation as it was perceived to be a source of power which could counter the caste power in the villages. Resentment of the Dalit/Tribals against the old order and the missionaries’ tacit or open support for them made the Dalits feel that they have a patron and ally in the missionaries.

This subjective perception of the Dalits/Tribals was shared neither by the churches nor by the missionaries as a whole. There was no unanimity of opinion within the churches as to the nature and significance of caste. While some called it anti-Christian, others understood it as part of the social structure of the Indian society which had its roots in the ethnic composition of the country. Its economic and political undergirding and its legitimation by religion was passed of as not of much consequence. As different Churches and denominations concentrated in different regions and among different ethnic or caste groups without a common understanding with regard to the phenomenon of caste, they themselves often became a new vehicle of caste contradictions already existing in the society at large.

On the other hand, the socio-economic, occupational and other cultural differences between the Dalits/Tribal majority and the non-Dalit minority Christians made up of the Syrian, Mangalorian, Goan as well as caste converts from such groups as Chetty, Vellalas, Theyvars, Reddies, Kammas, Nadars etc., enabled the minority Christians to benefit for the most part from the higher education given by the missionaries, and they thus formed a second line of leadership in the churches.

At the dawn of national independence, the caste Hindu leadership replaced the imperial power. Under the democratic set-up, this leadership under the guidance of M.K. Gandhi wanted to co-opt the Dalits to maintain the Hindu majority. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who foresaw the danger of the caste dominance in the new political order in India, argued for constitutional safeguards in the form of separate electorates for the Dalits. This demand known as the ‘communal representation’ was compromised under the stiff opposition of caste Hindus led by Gandhi, and the compromised formula of political reservations and quotas in jobs and education were agreed upon under the Poona Pact.

Churches’ policy and its impact on the Dalit Christians

At this juncture the Church saw itself as a minority group. Its main anxiety was to protect its right to profess and propagate its faith, to run its educational, medical and service institutions. It wanted to project itself as a loyal minority serving the mainstream rather than protecting its own sectarian interest. This idealistic theological stand ignored the highly fragmented sociological nature of the Indian Christian Community and the Indian society in general, which were made up of endogamous ethnic groups which were unequal economically, politically and culturally. The practical outcome of this policy was that the all India Church leadership was taken over by the small minority in the Church largely made up of non-Dalit castes and communities, which was particularly true of churches like the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox, the Marthoma and other mainline protestant churches. While B.R. Ambedkar defended the Depressed Classes’ rights, this Christian leadership surrendered the Depressed Class Christians’ right for special reservation as the caste Christians did not feel the necessity of having special reservation as they were able to participate in the political processes and developmental activities along with other caste people.² This leadership did not consider the historic lesson that the Church’s right to propagate the faith largely worked in the past mainly with the disprivileged Dalits/Tribals and these are the people in India who are waiting for the ‘good news to the poor’, ‘release to the captives’, ‘to be set at liberty’. Though it preached the Nazareth declaration, it did not historically place its mission in terms of flesh, blood and people. It did not occur to the Church that the only people in need of social deliverance in the Indian situation are the Dalits/Tribals as they were the ones culturally oppressed.

Under the same illusion of universality of faith and practices, the minority non-Dalit leadership also denied the Dalits of any kind of special reservation within the educational and medical services of the churches. The profession of equality in an unequal church and society - caste society - meant that the powerful castes controlled the Church and it ceased to be an instrument of social liberation to the Dalits. On the contrary, the Church served the social interests of cultural groups better equipped to make use of the enormous material and cultural resources of the Churches. It was a qualitative change from the days of pre-independence.

The non-Dalit leadership also set the theological agenda for the Churches. All attention was paid to understand the Brahmanical religious traditions and systems of thought which were understood to be the Indian heritage. It did not occur to them that the Brahmanical scriptures, law books, religious rituals and practices traditionally played the role of legitimising and maintaining an hierarchical caste-consciousness and inequalitarian caste structure which is directly linked to the economic and political inequalities of our society. It did not occur to them that the so-called untouchables/Tribals of India belonged to the earliest strata of Indian society and the religion of the dominant caste played a historic role in the cultural subjugation of these original inhabitants. It did not occur to them that a true Indian theology should start from the traditional heritage of the Dalits / Tribals who are desperately yearning for their liberation in history. It did not occur to them that the religious history of the Dalits / Tribals would reveal that some of their gods and goddess condemned caste and caste practices, that they have heroes who were victims of caste and caste practices, that they have sages who have led movements of liberation among them and that some of their myths, stories, songs, proverbs and rituals are clues to their history of economic and religious subjugation when rightly interpreted with the help of other material evidence, were also forgotten.

Churches in the name of indigenisation in its liturgy also drew from the anti-Dalit/Tribal traditions which naturally eliminated their symbols and practices as of low order. In short, the Church seemed to have decided to exist within the hierarchical caste structure of the traditional Indian society and its culture.

The over-all effect of this policy was that the Dalits became disappointed and were alienated within the churches. They became a flock without a shepherd. On the other hand, the caste Hindu leadership cleverly used their political patronage often with the support of non-Christian Dalits to withdraw any kind of political, economic and educational support the converts were enjoying as Dalits or Tribals. A case in point is that, the Malabar Pulayans as a Scheduled Tribe were enjoying the benefits of reservation even after many of them were converted to Christianity. During the emergency by an act of parliament with effect from 27-7-77 they were rescheduled as Scheduled Caste with the intention of denying the benefits of reservation to those among them who converted to Christianity. The Church of India, including the local Church did not even come to know of these developments, let alone voice any protest on behalf of the concerned people, who all of a sudden found themselves refused jobs and education. Another instance is that, major churches in Kerala were opposed to the radical land reform bill brought in by the Marxist Government in Kerala in 1956. The churches actively supported with other conservative religious forces in the so-called liberation movement to throw out the Marxist Government. The Church proved itself as anti-Dalit and was perceived as such by the Christian Dalit community. In this paper however, I cannot go into the details of this anti-Dalit stance of the churches.

The Response of the Christian Dalits

The result of this policy on the Christian Dalit community was a general sort of alienation from the churches, which took many forms. In regions where Marxist/Naxalite movements were strong the educated Christian Dalit took to those movements in some areas en masse as in Kerala. A sizable section of Christian Dalits all over the country converted to Hinduism to claim the benefits of reservation. Still others left the mainline churches under the leadership of caste Christians to form their own little Pentecostal or denominational groups where they felt at least psychologically free to be themselves.

A small minority of Dalit Christians following B.R. Ambedkar understood their problem as both economic and religio-cultural. They rejected the class approach because their experience taught that the class movements in India were incapable of bringing about a genuine class alliance of Dalits/Tribals and the rest of the poor across caste barriers. The ideological jargons and programmes of the class movement had no agenda of breaking the religious, cultural mould of caste in which all Indians transact and order their every day life. A mere conversion to other religions - a religio-cultural approach - they found inadequate as all these religions as social realities function within the class-caste structure of the wider Indian society. In short, any movement for the empowerment of Dalits/Tribals who are only the historical victims of caste/class power structure, had to be solidly based on their own resources. It can only receive the goodwill and voluntary support of individuals from the rest of the society if it has to fulfill its historic mission of breaking the old mode of caste-class power. This kind of conceptual clarity, however does not offer a practical agenda as the illiterate, poor Dalits / Tribals have been made to understand their ethnic-tribal roots and peculiarities in terms of caste categories and are divided among themselves.

This leaves the Dalits/Tribals with a civilisation problem where one can only give general guidelines as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar did. His mahavakya was: Educate, Agitate and Organise.

EDUCATE: The content of this education has to include the true history of Dalits/Tribals, their cultural heritage, the nature of their enslavement, its religio-cultural undergirdings, the character of the emerging political structure, the necessity of Dalit/Tribal participation in the political process.

AGITATE: As they suffer from a number of material and cultural deprivation, the only way to remedy the situation is to agitate as a social group against such deprivations experienced in manifold ways in their daily life.

ORGANISE: It is in the process of agitations around concerns and issues that they can forge unity and strength as one people.

All the same, Christian Dalits have identified their problem as two fold. The State discriminates them by denying them the benefit of Reservation given to other Dalits, belonging to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist traditions. While the Church made representations and submitted memorandums to the Government, it cannot be said that it mobilised all its resources to champion the genuine demand of the Christian Dalits. Even when the late Shri G.S. Reddy in 1977 and Prof. P.J. Kurien in 1983 moved the Lok Sabha private members bill for the amendment of Para 3 of the President’s Constitution Order 1950, the Church did not exert its moral pressure and organise a wider publicity campaign. However the situation has recently changed. In 1985, Christian Dalit Liberation Movement organised a national convention in Delhi which was followed up with annual regional conventions in different regions and a number of consultations and agitations. In April 1986 the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India meeting in Goa decided to observe ‘Justice Sunday’ on the Sunday after Independence Day in August to highlight the plight of Christians of Scheduled Caste origin.

Lately two national organisations have come together to mobilise political support for the cause of Christian Dalits. They are ‘All India Christians Movement for Equal Rights’ and “All India Christian People’s Forum.” They are organising national conventions and rallies besides lobbying MLAs and MPs to undo the wrong done to the Christian Dalits, beside conducting seminars and symposia to educate the Churches and the Christian Dalits in particular. While the Christian Dalits do not expect political rights, they expect the Church to morally and financially support them so that they can get their rights recognised by the Government.

Justice within the Christian Church

The Dalit/Tribal demand for justice within the Churches has fortunately been growing and becoming ecumenical in nature embracing all Churches and denominations since the middle of the seventies. The leadership in the churches is becoming uneasy at the continued existence of anomalies in the form of separate burial grounds, chapels for the Dalit Christians, non-absorbing of Dalit candidates into religious congregations and bodies. The All India United Christians Movement for Equal Rights spelt out their demands under twelve headings. Though much of it is specifically couched in terms applicable to the Catholic Church in India, mutatis mutandis it expresses the genuine demands of their brethren belonging to other churches as well. It includes demands for separate commission of SC/ST/BC concerns from national to parish levels, a policy of reservation applicable to all Church institutions, specific programmes for the empowerment of the Dalit Christians in the form of financial grants, eradication of illiteracy, leadership training etc. In short, they say that “the Church in India as a whole must declare an internal emergency and engage herself with time-bound programmes and evaluations for the liberation of the Dalit Christians on a war footing.”³

About the theological direction the statement says, “Indian inculturation, indigenisation and adaption in search of personal bliss and peace or natural heritage should not remain at the Hermitage and Ashram but should lead to the identification and living with the millions of SC/ST and BC Christians who form more than 90% of Christians in India and then alone we can discover the Indian Christ and Paramatma through their culture and aspirations.”⁴

Dalit Theology in India generally identified the crucified Christ in the situation of the Dalit/Tribal in India today. It realises that the risen Lord would be recognised in the Eucharist only when the participants abjure their sin of caste-consciousness, and that the Christian challenge applies as much to non-Dalit Christians as to the Dalit Christians themselves.

Let us hope that by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we can grow up to meet this challenge which might bring renewal and renaissance not only to the Churches but to our country and civilisation as a whole.

Notes

1. The Dalits and Tribals are constitutionally two distinct groups. Though there could be sufficient reasons to justify this present distinction, in terms of their own past history, of their struggles against economic and social oppression and their movements to claim their rightful place, in the nation, it is better to understand them as one people, the earliest inhabitants of the sub-continent or the indigenous people of our country, with the exception of some tribal groups. For this purpose in this paper I have put the Dalits and Tribals as one word with a stroke. ↩
2. The reference is to the overall position taken by the representatives of the Church in the Constituent Assembly. There were, however, individual leaders who protested both in the Assembly and outside against the discrimination shown to the Christians of Scheduled Caste origin. Dr. E.C. Bhatty, Secretary of the National Christian Council was one such leaders cf. Dalit Christian Struggle for "One Man One Value," position paper presented to the General Body of the Catholic Council of India, by Br. Jose Daniel. ↩
3. Br. Jose Daniel, "Dalit Christian Struggle for One Man One Value." Position paper presented to the General Body of the Catholic Council of India, 1993. ↩
4. Ibid. ↩

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