Justice issues of Kandhamal, Dalit Christian demands raised at meeting of National Integration Council

[Dr. John Dayal]

[The following is an abridged version of the points raised by Dr John
Dayal, Secretary General, All India Christian Council, at the meeting
of the National Integration Council at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on
Saturday, 10th September 2011. The Prime Minister of India, Dr
Manmohan Singh, chaired the meeting moderated by Union Home Minister
Mr. P Chidambaram. Mr. L K Advani, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun
Jaitely, Defence minister A K Anthony, chief ministers of Orissa and
other States, leaders of the Congress and other parties, leading
industrialists were among the Members of the NIC present.]

“Mr. Prime Minister, Honourable Union Ministers, Honourable Chief
Ministers, distinguished Members

I bring you greetings from the Christian community in India, proud to
be Indians, and proud of the fact that our country has rule of law
under a Constitution that guarantees us Freedom of Faith as a vital
component of our Secular, Socialist Democracy.

At the outset, may I express our community’s strong condemnation of
the recent bomb blast outside the Delhi High court, and express our
solidarity with the victims and our fellow citizens. Terror has no
place in Indian society. There is no cause big enough to merit
mindless violence that targets innocent men, women and children. As
people of Peace, we pray for the dead as we also pray for the speedy
recovery of the injured. Above all, we pray eternal peace and
prosperity for India, our motherland.

We ourselves are victims of a different sort of socio-political
terror, the terror of communalism. Our data shows we are targetted
across the country with at least one incident a day of hate-motivated
violence at some town or village, in one state or the other. Some
states are worse than others. Among the worst are Karnataka and Madhya
Pradesh, and districts such as Udaipur in Rajasthan. In many states,
the local police and administration are complicit. Often their
actions and impunity blatantly encourage local violent elements. In
Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh for instance, local police and
administrative coercion and threatening of prayer services in homes,
or house churches as they are called, almost immediately leads to acts
of physical violence. Not every church has to be a large Cathedral.
Jesus said “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I will be
there”. That is the basis of house churches, small Christian
communities and Basic Christian Communities as they are called in the
Evangelical, Episcopal and Catholic denominations respectively.

Such targetting, intolerance and officially conducted so-called
“surveys” and demands for “registration” of churches must end
forthwith. It does not happen with believers of other faiths, and it
must Not happen with Christians.
Hate campaigns must also end. We have identified, as I am sure the
governmetns' intelligence agencies must also have identified, the
origin of such hate from the headquarters of certain political groups
who want India to be rid of its religious minorities, or wants them to
live as second rate citizens. We are first class citizens, much as
everyone else, and seek our rights, the first of which is security so
that we can enjoy that other right – freedom of faith and worship.
Government must take urgent steps to train its police and
administrative personnel in the principles of secularism, and
sensitize them on the needs of all minorities, and the Christian
minority in particular.

The Targetted and Communal violence [prevention, reparation and
justice] Bill 2011 drafted by the National Advisory Council seeks to
ensure this. We still feel the Bill needs some fine-tuning on issues
of protecting India’s federalism and the autonomy of States.. We also
specifically seek Christian representation in the structures it
envisages. We commend its early adoption by government and its
enactment as law after checking the Constitutionality of every clause
and sub clause.

It may come as a surprise to some, but our community also has its
share and more of the poor and the deprived. The Dalit Christians are
one such group. They must be restored their constitutional rights at
the earliest as recommended by the Justice Rangnath Misra Commission.
Other poor, specially among the tribals and the rural landless and
fishermen, must be identified and receive the assistance of the
Government’s many schemes. For this it is important they first be
identified. We have repeatedly demanded a Prime Minister’s Committee,
on the pattern of the Justice Sachchar Committee set up for the
Muslims, to look into the socio economic and developmental status of
the Christian community across the country. Such a survey will help
the Church generate its own development strategies. And it will help
the government implement its secular agenda of development.
There must also not be any confrontation and conflict between the
educational rights guarantees for minorities in the Constitution, and
the new Right to Education Act. Across the country, our educational
sector is facing harassment in recent months with local authorities
trying to intimidate school managements.

In the drafting of the 12th plan, we have suggested several measures
for the uplift of those of my brothers and sisters who are deprived,
in education, hostel facilities, employment and self employment. I
commend those recommendations made to the Ministry of Minority Affairs
and the Planning Commission. They must form part of government policy
and must be implemented.

I close with reflecting on the many lapses that have taken place in
ensuring justice, rehabilitation and reparation to the Christians of
Kandhamal district in Orissa. Kandhamal saw an anti Christian pogrom
in August, September and October 2008 and it seemed that the
Connotation of India was not operative in that distant plateau in the
centre of Odisha. Over 56,000 people were rendered homeless, over
5,600 housed destroyed, almost 300 churches torched, nuns raped. There
was other and significant gender violence. According to our count, and
the government differs, more than 90 persons lost their lives. Men and
women lost livelihood and homes, jobs and fields. Children lost
opportunities of education. Many villages banned the entry of
Christians if they did not convert to Hinduism. Three years on,
justice in the real terms remains a dream despite two Fast Track
Courts which are known for witnessing the terrorizing of witnesses.
Government aid for reconstruction was timid and small. The church
helped out. But even then more than 2,000 houses remain unbuilt. It is
shocking but many people have not been able to return home. Education,
jobs, agriculture opportunities are missing. Even in the cases of
murder, there has been no punishment in over 20 cases because the
witnesses were scared or paid off. Sometimes their terrorizing took
place in court, as I have witnessed personally.

Justice must be done, Dear Prime Minister and Dear Chief minister of
Odisha. We look to you for justice.
I thank you for this opportunity to address the National Integration
Council.”