Conversion has not helped Christian Dalits'

Mangalore, November 27: Explaining the status of the Christian Dalits in Karnataka, Deputy Director at the Centre for studies of local culture at Kuvempu University Dr Shanmukha A and Research Scholar Shankarappa N S said that the plight of Christian Dalits has not improved in the State, despite converting from Hinduism to Christianity.

The duo was speaking at a session on 'Problems of Christian Dalits in Karnataka' at the IV international conference on 'Rethinking religion in India' at SDM Law College on Monday. Analysing the condition of Dalits who have converted to Christianity, Shankarappa said that 'discrimination' continued to exist even after their conversion.

The mainstream Christians look down upon the Christian Dalits. There is not much difference between the treatment of Dalits by upper caste Hindus and mainstream Christians. The Christians treat Christian Dalits as the people who have converted for the sake of money and other benefits. They treat converted Dalits as aliens, he said.

Pointing out a few instances where Christian Dalits are not accepted by the mainstream Christians, he said the marriages between Christian Dalits and mainstream Christians are not accepted even to this day.

The Christian Dalits and mainstream Christians do not socialise with each other and mainstream Christians keep the converted away from the functions, the research scholar expressed.

“The evil system of caste continues to exist even after the conversion. In fact, conversion is more disadvantageous, for it deprives the Christian Dalits from seeking benefits under SC and ST quota, making their life more miserable.

Conversion makes Dalits isolated, from the Hindus as well as Christians. Hence the conversion does not solve the problem faced by the Dalits, but it only adds more problem,” he said.

However, there was differences of opinion in the audience, as a scholar who was present at the venue said, the conversion has helped Dalits to gain a little more respect in the society, especially from the members of Hindu community.