Is it time to recognize Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians?

The English-speaking educated intelligentsia in India is generally hardly aware of the existence of “Dalit Muslims” and “Dalit Christians”. Of course these terminologies have gained currency only of late. That too in the context of demand for reservation for jobs etc as applicable to the S.C.s and S.T.s of the Hindu society. There is even confusion in the minds of our top rulers. When they talk about “Muslim reservation” what actually they rightly imply is “reservation for Dalit Muslims”. We are way past anything like reservation on the basis of religion. That is illegal and unconstitutional. Only low castes or groups in a religion can claim relief due to economic and social disabilities.

The fact about Dalit Muslims is that we do not have all the facts. Of the 150 million Muslim population in India, there are varying estimates according to which the Dalit Muslims constitute 100 to 140 millions in number. It is said that in Bihar, ninety percent of Muslims are Dalit Muslims. There is no clear-cut definition of Dalit Muslims either.

The Dalit Muslims have been organizing themselves in recent years. They say that the upper class Muslims of Arab/Iranian/Afghan origin who are known as “ashrafs”, meaning ‘noble’, have always ill-treated them. So have the high-caste Hindus who converted to Islam. The Dalit Muslims are called “ajlafs”, meaning lowly. They have lowly professions and cannot inter-marry with the ashrafs. They allege that the ulemas and the English-speaking Muslim intelligentsia have always suppressed them. However the Islamic leaders say that Islam is egalitarian and there is no question of discrimination within the community. One would observe that although there are Islamic sects like Moplahs, Nadafs, Labbes etc, in actual fact the Muslim community has sub-divisions such as bhangis, chamars, Mochis, Mehtars, Dhobis etc.

In terms of our Constitution certain reservations have been made available to the S.C.s and the S.Ts. of the Hindu society, which have further been extended to the backward classes amongst the Sikhs and Neo-Buddhists too as the latter religions are considered to be inclusive within Hinduism. The Dalit Muslims claim that they should be treated on equal footing as they came from such backward classes before conversion. It is interesting that some Dalit Muslim organizations claim that the conversion to Islam took place due to the attraction of Sufism that preached love and compassion. It is however believed that the conversions to Islam largely resulted from inducements and persecution during the Islamic rule in India.

It is interesting to note that of the 30 million Catholic Christians in India, more than 20 million are said to be Dalit Christians who are also descendants of the converts and have lowly professions. They are aggrieved against the church leaders for practising discrimination. They too are asking for reservation for Dalit Christians in Governmental institutions and jobs.

The recently submitted Sachar Committee report recognizes the need to be even-handed with the Muslim Dalits and Christian Dalits as with Hindus. On the face of it, it would seem to be correct to argue that religious discrimination cannot be done under the Constitution and hence the backward sections in the Muslim and Christian societies should be given the same privileges as extended to Hindus, Sikhs and neo-Buddhists. Apart from this legality, this is only a matter of common-sense and compassion.

While the Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians seem to have a case, any reform at this stage by the Government of India has to be carefully done, taking various sections of Indian society into confidence and after prolonged exercise and deliberations. Any hurried decision by ruling parties for vote-bank consideration could create shock waves that could threaten our unity and harmony. The Hindus including the Dalit Hindus are likely to feel threatened due to the possibility of losing a part of their existing share in the pie. We should not precipitate needless agitations that would further divide our society and endanger public and private property that could suffer arson and looting.

The strange thing is that we are now looking at the Muslim and Christian Dalit claims nearly sixty years after independence. If we are going to extend them concessions, the whole issue of reservations should be addressed as a package. We should work out time frames and sunset provisions. Otherwise ad-hocism and ad-interim considerations would lead to perpetuating the reservations that would not be in the nation’s interest.