The Christian community has sought 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,” says Dr John Dayal.

In an appeal to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Dr John Dayal, Secretary General of the All India Christian Council (Founded 1999) and member of the National Integration Council urges the Union Government to take urgent steps to make New Year 2006 happier for the Christian community and everyone else in the country.

 “It is a privilege to greet you in this season of Advent and wish you a Merry Christmas on behalf of the Christian Community in India represented by the All India Christian Council, the Catholic Union and UCA. Through you, we also wish our fellow Indians a prosperous New Year 2006 with prayers that it brings Peace, Security and happiness to our land,” Dr John Dayal says. The 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 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,” he says, adding that “the National Commission for Minorities remains a silent spectator and its 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.”

He says Christian Tribals of Jhabua are still in jail while their tormentors roam free - 14 Christian members are in a jail in Madhya Pradesh 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 taken part in the violence. They remain free.

Referring to the prevailing situation in Rajasthan, he says 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.

Expressing his concern about the growing incidence of anti-Dalit Violence, Dr John Dayal says, “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 short distance of Delhi in places such as Sonepat, Christian families have had their houses burnt.”

He says the bureaucratic approach to relief, as in the case of the Tsunami victims, leaves the double-disadvantaged out of reckoning. “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.”

Dr Joseph D’souza appeals to the Union Government to reintroduce the Bill in Parliament to give Dalit Christians the rights snatched by the Presidential order of 1950 without waiting for the Mishra commission report. “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 incorporated in Government's poverty alleviation and relief plans. Such a Commission has been already set up for the Muslims under Justice Sachchar.”

Dr. John Dayal finds fault with the Government in its policy towards 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.”

He says 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 amounts to 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. 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.”