Fifty-two years after Ambedkar changed his faith, conversion still treated with suspicion in India

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, author of India's Constitution and Dalit leader, embraced Buddhism on Oct. 14, 1956
Today, growing calls for illogical "moratorium" on conversions in India

For more information, contact:
Dr. Joseph D'souza, aicc President

Sam Paul, aicc National Secretary of Public Affairs

For immediate release

HYDERABAD -- Oct. 14, 2008 -- Today the All India Christian Council (aicc) celebrates “Dhammadiksha”, the day on which Dr. B.R. Ambedkar freely chose a new religion on October 14, 1956 in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The author of India’s Constitution showed that conversion is not a crime, but fifty-two years later voices inside India want a “moratorium on conversions.” The aicc is united in support of the freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience which includes conversion. The aicc President, Dr. Joseph D'souza, has written an essay on the topic. Please see below.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar commented in a speech, “Mukti kon pathe?” (What path to liberation?), published on June 20, 1936, “To remain in a religion because it is ancestral is only suited to a fool. No thinking man can take such a policy. Remaining in a situation in which one finds oneself fits an animal; it cannot satisfy a human being.” Under Ambedkar’s leadership, millions of people embraced Buddhism.

Seven states have passed “Freedom of Religion Acts” and five are enforcing it, but, today, there has not been one conviction for conversion by allurement, fraud, or force. Even if wrongful conversions do exist in India, major religious leaders – especially from Christianity – have condemned them and believe this type of conversion is not legitimate.

Legitimate, legal conversions are now on the table for debate. On Oct. 8, 2008, Roman Catholic leaders in New Delhi agreed to meet with the senior BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader, Mr. L.K. Advani, along with a delegation. Mediated by Swami Chidanand Saraswati of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, a joint press statement discussing conversions was issued after the two hour dialogue.

John Dayal, aicc Secretary General and member of the National Integration Council, said, “The aicc welcomes true dialogue. It is the cornerstone of our everyday life and Christian witness. But a dialogue presupposes free will, a peaceful platform, a structured agenda, a common goal for peace through mutual respect, and acknowledgement of each other as equals. Religious leaders should dialogue with other religious leaders in bilateral and multilateral forums. Parliament provides the forum for political dialogue. Civil society is the best platform for a larger, continuing dialogue and debate. These are forums we trust.”

Dr. Joseph D’souza, aicc President, said, “Dialogues don’t identify the killers, arsonists, and rapists of Christians in India. Calls for moratoriums on conversion don’t put the onus of the violence where it belongs – on government structures which are guilty of inaction in saving victims, and, in many cases, of supporting the violence against Christians. Dialogues will not save Hindu fundamentalist organisations from facing justice.”

India has signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says, in Article 18, people must remain free to choose their own religion. India's Constitution, in Article 25, guarantees the right to propagate religion, which will naturally lead to conversions.

D'souza said, "As long as laws of the land are respected and other faiths are not denigrated, each person has the right to convert. And other Indians have the right to tell fellow citizens about different choices in religion so they have the knowledge and options to convert. We believe each Indian citizen must be allowed to shop in the marketplace of religions and choose a faith. We appeal to Indians of all religions to protect this freedom. Conversion is the sign of a healthy democracy. Conversion is the ultimate symbol of freedom of conscience."

The All India Christian Council (www.christiancouncil.in), birthed in 1998, exists to protect and serve the Christian community, minorities, and the oppressed castes. The aicc is a coalition of thousands of Indian denominations, organizations, and lay leaders.

A Moratorium on Conversions: Who Decides?
By Joseph D’souza

In the first wave of attacks on Christians in modern India during the late 1990s, a Christian leader flinched under the pressure of Hindu extremists and called for a five year moratorium on conversions. Extremist Hindu forces have repeatedly said Christians are engaged in forced and fraudulent conversions and this is the chief reason for ‘spontaneous’ violence against Christians. The Christian leader apparently succumbed to the incessant propaganda campaign.

During the rule of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government, the emboldened RSS maneuvered to bring various Christian denominations and associations into a dialogue that would result in a public agreement to end conversions among the downtrodden castes of India. Major Christian organisations were forced to come to the table due to political pressure and veiled threats. After every meeting with the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the spokesperson of the RSS informed the media that the Christians had agreed to their agenda of stopping conversions in modern India.

In the midst of this theatre of the absurd, the All India Christian Council (AICC) was one of the main groups that refused to dialogue with the RSS.  This aligned with the position of major civil society leaders and human rights movements in India. This decision was also taken in conjunction with Dalit-Bahujan leaders. The AICC differentiated between a genuine dialogue with non-Christian religious leaders and the sham of ‘discussions’ with Sangh Parivar outfits who have already decided, before the meeting begins, what they want the outcome to be. The AICC supports a genuine dialogue with other faiths out of our respect for our neighbours – Jesus said we must love our neighbour as ourselves – and in order to maintain civil law, decency, and peace.

Currently, the issue of a moratorium on conversions has emerged in the media in fulfillment of the propaganda of the Sangh Parivar. If the Hindu nationalist parties come to power in New Delhi, I suspect Christian organisations will be forced to come to the table again. Once again the AICC will refuse any dialogue on the issue.

Why? The answer is found in a deeper question.

Who ultimately decides the issue of conversion?

According to India’s Constitution the freedom of religion is given to every individual Indian citizen. He or she has the freedom to believe and practice the faith he or she chooses. The freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution gives every Indian citizen the right to propagate his faith as long as civil norms and decency are maintained.

In the context of the caste revolt in modern India, a revolution which began with Mahatma Phule, Ambedkar, and Periyar, there is another logical reason.  If our country does not give the Dalits, tribals and the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) the right to choose their faith, we have effectively imposed permanent slavery of the caste system on them. It was Ambedkar who said that ‘I was born a Hindu but I will not die a Hindu’. In 1956 he fulfilled that promise with hundreds of thousands of followers. Since then, rightly or wrongly, the liberation of the oppressed castes is fatefully tied with the choice to convert out of the religion that imposes the caste system on them.

The Indian State tried to deal with caste discrimination by banning the practice of ‘untouchability’ in the Constitution. With affirmative action provisions through reservation programs, the State tried to lift up the low castes of our society.

In contrast, the Hindu fundamentalist groups led by the RSS only revived and enforced casteist religious practices that demean both the Dalits and also women. These extreme groups have done nothing to enforce the banning of the caste system within their religious systems. It was the Vice-President of the VHP who said the life of a cow is more valuable than the life of a Dalit.  This was immediately after five Dalit young men were lynched to death in Jhajjar, Haryana, for skinning a dead cow.

Hindutva groups tried to revive the practice of Sati and have distributed books which contain the Law of Manu which codified the caste system in ancient India.

So who decides on a moratorium on conversions?  The RSS?  The media ? Those who come to the table and dialogue on this issue?  Or the oppressed Dalit and low caste person in India? Dare we take away this final and most basic of human rights from the most dehumanized group of people in human civilization?

Those of us in the AICC movement – we are a coalition of many Christian groups from mainline to Pentecostal – refuse to strip this right from the Dalits or any oppressed group. And we acknowledge there are two sides to the coin. Thus, we refuse to take away this right even from those who are Christians but may choose another faith. Simply said, we believe that, without the freedom of conscience, all other freedoms become meaningless.

We unconditionally condemn all forced and fraudulent conversions and we consider the terms themselves as oxymoron. We condemn proselytizing or any effort to denigrate another faith.

The targeting of Dalits who turned to Christianity in Orissa is now out in the open. This is blatant violence against Dalits who exercised their freedom of conscience. The Dalits are not stupid in matters of conscience.  Their leader Ambedkar has shown them the way. They neither need the State nor upper caste religious leaders to tell them how to make their choices.

The AICC is determined to protect and serve the Dalits. We have stated long ago that we will love and serve them unconditionally with Christ’s love whether they are Christians or not.

The Dalit Christian ethnic cleansing of Orissa must be contested by every means possible under the Indian Constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The freedom of religion must be supported in every corner of our beloved country.

Dr. Joseph D’souza is President of the All India Christian Council. Birthed in 1998, the Council is a coalition of thousands of India’s Christian denominations, organizations, and lay leaders. D’souza lives in India and operates out of London and Denver.

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