Dr Joseph D'Souza, President of All India Christian Council (aicc) and Udit Raj, Chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations have unequivocally challenged the data presented by Centre for Research, Planning and Action (CERPA), a private research group.

The participants in a seminar organised by CERPA at India International Centre on 10 August 2006 also challenged the attitude of bureaucrats of the Centre and of the Misra Commission towards the reality of Dalit Christians. There was outrage against the lack of efforts to collect data on Dalit Christians. In fact, officials were allegedly seeking to play down repeated demands for fresh data on the impoverished Dalit and Tribal Christians who had been ignored by the highly opinionated Census enumerations.

Dr Joseph D'Souza said there must be no religious bigotry against Dalits, who must get the same privileges as Indian citizens whether they are Hindu, Sikh or Christian. He reiterated an earlier demand that the Central Government enquire into the economic and development status of all Christians by setting up a Special committee as had been done in the case of Muslims whose status was being assessed by the Justice Sachchar panel appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The National Commission had organised a similar seminar at the Tata Institute in Mumbai. Earlier, it had held hearings in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities. Dr Joseph D'Souza wondered what the Tata Institute had got to do with Christian problems. In fact, the Commission should have consulted Dalit Christian leaders who could have helped unearth the truth. The commission had also received several thousand representations from Dalit Christian groups from across the country demanding the Scheduled Caste status - and not Other Backward Classes title - for Dalit converts from the former untouchable castes.

Udit Raj said Asha Das, the member secretary of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities which has been given the issue of Dalit Christians for its opinion by the Central Government and which in turn is responding to a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court - seemed to persist with her rejection of impoverishment and social marginalisation of Dalits whose statistical data found no place in the surveys.

Unfortunately, a major Christian organisation - All India Christian Council represented by Dr Joseph D'souza - has not been invited by the Misra Commission. Various other leaders from Dalit Christian community had also not been consulted, said Udit Raj. “Without incorporating their views, we will not accept the findings of the Misra Commission,” he added.

Justice Misra and other Commission members Prof Mahmood, Dr Anil Wilson and Dr Mohinder Singh attended the deliberations. Christian speakers included National Integration Council member Dr John Dayal, Catholic Bishops Conference Education Commission (CBCI) secretary Fr P George, former CBCI Dalit affairs commission secretary Fr Philomen Raj, All India Christian Council Delhi region secretary Rev Madhu Chandra and Philip Jadhav of the National Council of Churches. Scholars who spoke included Delhi University professors Dr Shamshul Islam, Dr Manoj Jha, JNU teacher Susan Vishwanathan.