THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) has extended its support to the UDF and INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections. In Kerala, the NCDC’s squads are campaigning for the UDF candidates in 16 constituencies.
NCDC, a federation of Dalit Christian organisations, has institutional and individual memberships across the country. In Kerala, the council has over 35,000 individual memberships. Different churches and organisations, like the Church of South India, several Pentecostal Missions and the Sidhanar Christian Maha Sabha are its members.
The decision to support the INDIA bloc and UDF in Kerala was taken by the political affairs committee of the council, said its national president and Kerala convener V J George.
The council had supported the LDF in the 2016 assembly election. “The LDF did not deliver the five promises to Dalit Christians in its 2016 manifesto. Worse, the second Pinarayi government stopped educational benefits for Dalit Christian students which have been there since the 1960s,” George told TNIE.
According to him, the LDF government excluded Dalit Christian students in aided institutions from the stipend and lumpsum grant schemes. “We staged two protests demanding their restoration. The community members also submitted petitions at Nava Kerala Sadas in all districts. However, the government was adamant on its stand,” he said. The LDF, which once supported the cause of Dalit Christians, changed its stand following a report on the community prepared by an academician, says George.
“Citing the report, former CPM acting state secretary A Vijayaraghavan told us that Kerala had only 1.59 lakh Dalit Christians, and could not support our demands,” he says.
Calling the report a blunder, George said that the CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese alone had over 1 lakh members.
“The state has over 30 lakh Dalit Christians. So, we demanded the government increase the reservation for government jobs from 1 to 4%. We also demanded a 10% reservation in educational institutions starting from Plus-I. But the government did not pay heed,” he said.
The NCDC opposes the NDA since it did not support its plea in Supreme Court seeking SC status for Dalit Christians. Rising attacks against Christians under the Modi government is also another reason.
Strong opposition to LDF and NDA
The council turned against the LDF after the latter failed to deliver the five promises to the council
LDF govt’s withdrawal of edu grants for Dalit Christian students also reason
NCDC opposes the NDA as it did not support its plea in the apex court seeking SC status for Dalit Christians