IndiaSpend Interviews

'Dalit Christians, Muslims Must Not Be Denied Reservation'

Shreehari Paliath
Feb 18, 2021
A petition for Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims to be recognised under the Scheduled Caste category is pending before the Supreme Court. Why has this been denied for over 70 years?
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Says Satish Deshpande, a sociologist at Delhi University
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"The legal position is that reservation cannot be granted on religious grounds. The unstated political position is that SC and ST parliamentarians have been hostile to this [religion-neutral caste identity] idea"
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"In [many parts of] India, Dalit Christians and Muslims are forced to have separate churches/mosques and burial grounds. There have been several intra-church agitations. After denying caste-divisions for long, the Catholic church and other denominations have recognised the issue."
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The Supreme Court is reviewing its decision on the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes