What Next for Dalit Christians?
Finally, the Justice Mishra Commission has come out in favour of reservation for Dalit Christians and Muslims. The main argument, like the one in the petition before the Supreme Court, is that religion should not have been used as the criteria to determine Dalit reservation in the Presidential Order of 1950. One member in the Commission, Asha Das, has dissented saying that the Parliament or Judiciary cannot change religious practice. Her argument is that Islam and Christianity as religions do not in principle have the caste system as part of their religious ethos. She is silent, however, on how Parliament was able to give reservation to Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists when both Sikhism and Buddhism also do not allow for the caste system. Further, she is silent on the research data which reveals that the caste system and caste-based discrimination of Dalits has penetrated all religions in India. Those who perpetrate crimes against Dalits do not first verify if their victims are Dalit Hi
