Indian lawmaker seeks stronger powers for minority commission

A Christian member of the Indian Parliament has urged the federal government to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), citing a rise in violence and discrimination against religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims.

Puspanathan Wilson, a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, and a member of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), demanded in the house on Feb. 11 that the Indian Constitution and the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, be amended to strengthen the federal minority body.

Currently, the commission remains a statutory body tasked with safeguarding minority rights, but its recommendations have no legal force.

Wilson sought to upgrade it to a constitutional body, giving it powers similar to those of a civil court, including summoning individuals, examining them under oath, requisitioning documents, and receiving evidence on affidavits.

“A constitutional status will empower the commission to effectively investigate complaints regarding the deprivation of minority rights and ensure accountability,” Wilson told the House.
India officially recognizes Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains as religious minorities. However, Wilson said minorities — especially Christians and Muslims — have faced increasing hostility in recent years, often from right-wing Hindu groups.

Wilson told the house that India had witnessed targeted attacks, including mob lynchings and assaults on pastors and priests. Citing civil society data, he said more than 5,000 incidents of violence and harassment against Christians had been reported in recent years, including over 800 in 2024 alone.

Wilson also claimed that hate speeches against minorities rose by 13 percent in 2025. Referring to data compiled by the India Hate Lab, he said 1,318 hate speeches were documented across 2023 and 2025.

Misusing the anti-conversion laws, “people are arrested and kept in jail for months, only to be acquitted later,” he said. Since 2020, he said, nearly 400 cases have been registered under anti-conversion laws, existing in 12 states, leading to the arrest of around 1,200 people on what he described as false charges.

“These strike at the very heart of our constitutional promise of equality, secularism, and religious freedom,” he said, pointing to the need to strengthen the National Commission for Minorities.

The lawmaker said key positions on the commission for Minorities — including the chairperson and members — have remained vacant for extended periods, in some cases for up to three years.

Quoting from a parliamentary report, he said the commission has been ineffective in addressing discrimination, marginalization, and violence against minorities, and recommended granting it constitutional status.

Legal experts and Church representatives have backed the proposal.

The commission currently “is like a toothless tiger, with no substantial power to take legal action against targeted attacks,” said Govind Yadav, a Supreme Court lawyer.

“Strengthening the commission is the best way to check atrocities against religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims,” he told UCA News on Feb. 12.

Father Babu Joseph, former spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), also welcomed the demand.

The proposed constitutional status for the commission “will go a long way in addressing the legitimate grievances of minority communities that often remain unresolved,” the Divine Word priest told UCA News.

Christians account for about 2.3 percent of India’s more than 1.4 billion people, while Hindus comprise nearly 80 percent of the population.

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-lawmaker-seeks-stronger-powers-for-minority-commission/111889