01-18-2006, 07:55 AM
Dr. John Dayal
Member: National Integration Council
Government of India
National President: All India Catholic Union (Founded 1919)
Secretary General: All India Christian Council (Founded 1999)
President: United Christian Action, Delhi (Founded 1992)
505 Link, 18 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 India
Email: johndayal@...
Phone: 91-11-22722262 Mobile 09811021072
23d December, 2005
Dr Manmohan Singh
Hon'ble the Prime Minister of India
South Block, New Delhi
Re:
Dear Prime Minister
It is a privilege to greet you in this season of Advent and wish you a Merry
Christmas on behalf of Christian Community in India represented by the All India
Christian Council, the Catholic Union and UCA. Trough you, we also wish our
fellow Indians a prosperous New year 2006 with prayers that it bring Peace,
Security and happiness to our land.
Dear Prime Minister, we however regret our joy in the approaching Christmas, the
festival that brings with it the promise of Freedom, Liberation and Salvation in
the birth of Christ, is diminished and overshadowed by daily reports of violence
against Churches, Priests and the faithful, police atrocities and incidents of
miscarriage of justice in which the victims are the poorest of the poor
Christians and their fellow Dalits.
As we informed the Government of India in an earlier letter, we fear that the
total number of incidents of violence against Christians in the country in the
year 2005 may be as many as 200, a large number of them in the Udaipur division
of Rajasthan and in parts of Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa. Our appeals to State
governments have been in vain. In many cases, local political leaders and
officials are part of the conspiracy of violence. The National Commission for
Minorities remains a silent spectator and is Chairperson has given us cause to
suspect his own attitude towards Christians, a minority that his Commission is
sworn to protect.
Even in this dismal scenario, there are some incidents that stand out, and that
cry out for your sympathetic consideration and urgent action.
Christian Tribals of Jhabua still in Jail while their tormentors roam free: 14
Christian members are in an Madhya Pradesh jail for the past
2 years. They were arrested during the riots of 2004. They are all innocent poor
illiterate tribals and their families of all these people are in pitiable state.
At least three BJP MLAs are involved in the violence together with some Sadhvis
of the RSS who had come from Gujarat and took part in the violence. They remain
free. Situation in Rajasthan: As far as Christians are concerned, there seems to
be a free season against them in this state. This is so both in the tribal
areas, and in urban places such as Ajmer, Kota and Jaipur. The police and the
political apparatus are entirely supportive of the RSS aggressors. Anti Dalit
Violence: Christians have suffered as much as members professing other faiths in
the general sharp rise in caste violence against the Dalit community. Even
within a few kilometers of Delhi in places such as Sonepat, Christian families
have had their houses burnt. The bureaucratic approach to relief, as in the case
of the Tsunami victims, leaves the double-disadvantaged out of reckoning Dalit
Christians: We had great hopes that the return of the Congress at the head of
the UPA government would restore human dignity, civil rights and protection of
law to Christian converts from the Scheduled castes. An earlier Congress
government had in 1996 brought to Parliament a Bill to restore to the Dalit
Christians all rights enjoyed by Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh Dalits. Our hopes have
been belied. While we thank you for giving the Justice Mishra Commission the
addition task of discussing this issue, it falls far short of the demand of
justice. May we request you once again that your government reintroduces the
Bill in Parliament to give our people the rights snatched by the Presidential
order of 1950 without waiting for the Mishra commission report. Assessing
Economic Disempowerment of Christians. <b>We have requested you to establish a
commission to asses the poverty and economic status of Christians, especially
the Dalit Christians so that they are incorporate in Government's poverty
alleviation and relief plans. Such a Commission has been already set up for the
Muslims under Justice Sachchar. </b>Giving Christians the Right to Adopt Children.
We continue to be discriminated by the law in the case of adoptions. The tsunami
and other natural disasters, the death of young parents in terrorist attacks
such as the explosions in New Delhi, have left many orphans who need to be
adopted into loving families. The government must expedite the law. The church
has been campaigning for it for more than a decade.
Visa bias: Hundreds of wives of Christian NRIs are either denied visas to come
home with their families. In many cases that we have personally investigated,
wives married to Indians for two decades and with three or four children and
valid visas, have been turned away from Delhi and Mumbai airports. This amo8unt
so using the Visa as a form of religious persecution, and sheds a shadow of
bigotry on our regulations. I am sure our government will look into this matter.<b>
These women are wives and mothers, no anti-Indian terrorists. Nor are they
persons out to forcibly convert Indians to Christianity. Indian priests of all
religions are of course never refused a visa go enter any foreign country.</b>
Dear Prime Minister, as Christians we want justice for all victims of violence,
discrimination and economic and social deprivation in the country. The Church is
itself involved deeply in this process. The government from its side is
apparently is doing much in these matters, but in implementation and by default,
Dalit and poor Christians are always left out, as much as Church workers fail to
get the protection of the law.
May we humbly request that your government take urgent steps in the above
matters to make the New Year happier for the Christian community and everyone
else in the country.
With warm personal regards.
John Dayal
Member: National Integration Council
Government of India
National President: All India Catholic Union (Founded 1919)
Secretary General: All India Christian Council (Founded 1999)
President: United Christian Action, Delhi (Founded 1992)
505 Link, 18 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 India
Email: johndayal@...
Phone: 91-11-22722262 Mobile 09811021072
23d December, 2005
Dr Manmohan Singh
Hon'ble the Prime Minister of India
South Block, New Delhi
Re:
Dear Prime Minister
It is a privilege to greet you in this season of Advent and wish you a Merry
Christmas on behalf of Christian Community in India represented by the All India
Christian Council, the Catholic Union and UCA. Trough you, we also wish our
fellow Indians a prosperous New year 2006 with prayers that it bring Peace,
Security and happiness to our land.
Dear Prime Minister, we however regret our joy in the approaching Christmas, the
festival that brings with it the promise of Freedom, Liberation and Salvation in
the birth of Christ, is diminished and overshadowed by daily reports of violence
against Churches, Priests and the faithful, police atrocities and incidents of
miscarriage of justice in which the victims are the poorest of the poor
Christians and their fellow Dalits.
As we informed the Government of India in an earlier letter, we fear that the
total number of incidents of violence against Christians in the country in the
year 2005 may be as many as 200, a large number of them in the Udaipur division
of Rajasthan and in parts of Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa. Our appeals to State
governments have been in vain. In many cases, local political leaders and
officials are part of the conspiracy of violence. The National Commission for
Minorities remains a silent spectator and is Chairperson has given us cause to
suspect his own attitude towards Christians, a minority that his Commission is
sworn to protect.
Even in this dismal scenario, there are some incidents that stand out, and that
cry out for your sympathetic consideration and urgent action.
Christian Tribals of Jhabua still in Jail while their tormentors roam free: 14
Christian members are in an Madhya Pradesh jail for the past
2 years. They were arrested during the riots of 2004. They are all innocent poor
illiterate tribals and their families of all these people are in pitiable state.
At least three BJP MLAs are involved in the violence together with some Sadhvis
of the RSS who had come from Gujarat and took part in the violence. They remain
free. Situation in Rajasthan: As far as Christians are concerned, there seems to
be a free season against them in this state. This is so both in the tribal
areas, and in urban places such as Ajmer, Kota and Jaipur. The police and the
political apparatus are entirely supportive of the RSS aggressors. Anti Dalit
Violence: Christians have suffered as much as members professing other faiths in
the general sharp rise in caste violence against the Dalit community. Even
within a few kilometers of Delhi in places such as Sonepat, Christian families
have had their houses burnt. The bureaucratic approach to relief, as in the case
of the Tsunami victims, leaves the double-disadvantaged out of reckoning Dalit
Christians: We had great hopes that the return of the Congress at the head of
the UPA government would restore human dignity, civil rights and protection of
law to Christian converts from the Scheduled castes. An earlier Congress
government had in 1996 brought to Parliament a Bill to restore to the Dalit
Christians all rights enjoyed by Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh Dalits. Our hopes have
been belied. While we thank you for giving the Justice Mishra Commission the
addition task of discussing this issue, it falls far short of the demand of
justice. May we request you once again that your government reintroduces the
Bill in Parliament to give our people the rights snatched by the Presidential
order of 1950 without waiting for the Mishra commission report. Assessing
Economic Disempowerment of Christians. <b>We have requested you to establish a
commission to asses the poverty and economic status of Christians, especially
the Dalit Christians so that they are incorporate in Government's poverty
alleviation and relief plans. Such a Commission has been already set up for the
Muslims under Justice Sachchar. </b>Giving Christians the Right to Adopt Children.
We continue to be discriminated by the law in the case of adoptions. The tsunami
and other natural disasters, the death of young parents in terrorist attacks
such as the explosions in New Delhi, have left many orphans who need to be
adopted into loving families. The government must expedite the law. The church
has been campaigning for it for more than a decade.
Visa bias: Hundreds of wives of Christian NRIs are either denied visas to come
home with their families. In many cases that we have personally investigated,
wives married to Indians for two decades and with three or four children and
valid visas, have been turned away from Delhi and Mumbai airports. This amo8unt
so using the Visa as a form of religious persecution, and sheds a shadow of
bigotry on our regulations. I am sure our government will look into this matter.<b>
These women are wives and mothers, no anti-Indian terrorists. Nor are they
persons out to forcibly convert Indians to Christianity. Indian priests of all
religions are of course never refused a visa go enter any foreign country.</b>
Dear Prime Minister, as Christians we want justice for all victims of violence,
discrimination and economic and social deprivation in the country. The Church is
itself involved deeply in this process. The government from its side is
apparently is doing much in these matters, but in implementation and by default,
Dalit and poor Christians are always left out, as much as Church workers fail to
get the protection of the law.
May we humbly request that your government take urgent steps in the above
matters to make the New Year happier for the Christian community and everyone
else in the country.
With warm personal regards.
John Dayal