Christians denied place in Indian state’s minorities panel

The western Indian Maharashtra state did not include a Christian representative in the state panel meant to safeguard the interests of religious minorities, which Christian leaders say was unfortunate and unusual.

“It is unfortunate that no one from the Christian community was given representation on the 11-member Maharashtra State Minorities Commission,” said Father Nigel Barrett, the spokesperson of Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who heads the Bombay archdiocese in the state capital Mumbai.

The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on Oct. 11 filled nine vacant commission posts with six Muslims, two Jains, and a Sikh member ahead of assembly polls in India’s most industrialized state on Nov. 20.

The minority panels are set up to safeguard and protect the interests of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis), who are notified as minority communities in the country.

Christians comprise less than 1 percent (0.96) of Maharashtra state’s 126.5 million people, most of whom are Hindus.

Buddhists (5.8 percent) and Jains (1.25 percent) are more numerous than Christians. However, Sikhs (0.20 percent), who are fewer than Christians, have a representative in the panel.

“As a religious minority, we have every right to have at least one member in the statutory body,” Father Barrett told UCA News on Nov. 21.

The priest added, “There is resentment among the community.” He asked the government to reconsider the decision.

It is the first time the state had completely kept Christians out of the minorities panel, noted Abraham Mathai, a former member of the state’s minorities commission.

Christians “are legally entitled to get a seat on the commission,” Mathai told UCA News on Nov. 21.

Catholic activist Melwyn Fernandes from Mumbai (formerly Bombay) questioned the appointments just four days before the elections were announced.

These appointments are aimed “at appeasing minority groups,” Fernandes told UCA News on Nov. 21.

The Muslim community that got maximum representation constitutes over 12 percent of the population. So, their support is crucial ahead of the polls, he said.

“It is evident that the appointments were purely political,” Fernandes observed.

The Christian vote is not “a matter of concern” for the ruling BJP as Christians oppose its “divisive politics,” he added.

Fernandes, general secretary of the Association of Concerned Christians, said nobody can ignore the Christian community’s contributions to building the state.

Watchdog Foundation, an NGO based in the state, noted in a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from the Shiv Sena (Shinde), an ally of the BJP, that for the government, “Christians do not matter”.

It termed the omission of Christians as a matter of “grave concern.”

“The absence of representation undermines the principles of inclusion,” the letter said.

The government should reconsider the appointments, demanded advocate Godfrey Pimenta, who heads the foundation.

The poll results will be declared on Nov. 23.

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/christians-denied-place-in-indian-states-minorities-panel/107060