PRESS ROOM
CHRISTIAN DALITS IN THE NEWS
December 8, 1997 (?)
NEW DELHI, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Indian authorities
have arrested more than 100 activists of a radical Hindu organization
when they violently protested against the prime minister's recent promise
to reserve jobs for lower caste Christians, report said Sunday.
Police in the western state of Gujarat said a strong crowd of around 5,000 people were protesting against the promise in the state's capital of Ahmedabad when the country's Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda was visiting the city on Saturday, The Asian Age said.
India's prime minister recently assured that his government is prepared to pass a legislation to extend all the benefits reserved for lowest rung of country's rigid caste system to the Dalit Christians -- Christians who have converted from Hinduism's lowest "untouchable'' caste.
Until now, India's reservation policy, an affermative step by the authorities to secure rights for lower caste citizens, had only been extended to minority Sikhs and Buddhists, and not the Christians and Muslims converts from Hinduism.
Although in theory only the Hindu religion practices a caste system, India's minority religions have perpetuated the practice due to Hinduism's heavy influence on Indian society.