New Delhi (AsiaNews/CBCI) - Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday and demanded that Dalit Muslims and Christians be given all facilities being provided to Dalit Hindus.
Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Chemical and Fertiliser minister led a 11-member delegation of the All India United Muslim Morcha. Supporting the long-standing demand of the minorities Paswan said, "Christians, are availing the facilities of reservation in OBC and ST categories, there is no reason why Dalit Muslims and Christians be denied facilities given to Scheduled Caste".
A 1950 presidential decree established in law the principle of affirmative action for the Scheduled Castes in the fields of education and public employment. Originally, it included only Hindus but was eventually extended to Sikhs and Buddhists. However, it left out Christian and Muslim Dalits.
It also provided that Dalits covered by the decree's provisions would lose their privileges if they convert to Christianity or Islam.
For a long time Dalit Christians have been demanding equal rights under reservation for Dalits. A Public Interest Litigation is pending in the Supreme Court on the subject. The apex court has accepted to continue hearing the case in spite of the Government claiming that the matter pertains wholly to the executive domain.
