Hindu Groups Push Further Discrimination Against Christian Dalits

Vikrant Maheshwar, a Christian Dalit in his late 30s, worked for the Andhra Pradesh government in Southern India for 11 years. His salary from the state’s agriculture department not only allowed him to comfortably provide for his wife and children but also quietly supported his evangelism work.
Maheshwar became a Christian in primary school after his family heard the gospel from neighbors in Andhra Pradesh. The message of Jesus’ love for everyone resonated with him and his family, as they had long faced discrimination for belonging to the lowest caste in Hinduism. Christianity Today is not using Maheshwar’s real name, as Christian Dalits can face attacks from Hindu nationalist groups for speaking out.

Sunday school and daily Bible reading became part of his upbringing. By the time he was about 20, he felt a call to serve the Lord. He began preaching as an evangelist in churches across the region on Sundays while working for the government on weekdays.

But last November, Maheshwar’s life came to a halt when a fundamentalist Hindu group complained to his employer that he was a preacher and thus illegally holding a Scheduled Caste (SC) status. The status offers Dalit citizens—except for those who follow Christianity or Islam—education and employment privileges to counteract historic discrimination. Maheshwar got his government job through this protection.

Often when Dalits convert to Christianity, they keep their faith private and legally maintain their Hindu names to keep their SC status. Christian Dalits who pass as Hindu are called crypto-Christians. Until recently, authorities overlooked this practice. But as Hindu nationalism grows in India, Hindutva groups are exposing Dalit Christians and pressuring the government to act.

India’s Supreme Court ruled in November that practicing Christians who hold on to their SC certificates are committing “fraud on the constitution.” As a result, many Dalit Christians are now voluntarily giving up their SC status.

“What was not an issue earlier—or at least dormant—is now being brought to the fore to spread fear,” said Noah Simon, a researcher of Indian Christians at the University of Hyderabad.

vWhen the government learned about Maheshwar’s Christian identity, it fired him. His family suffered, as he could no longer financially support them, and he and his wife divorced under the stress. Humiliated and burdened by debt, he withdrew from the ministry, his family, and his social life.

“Let it be. I don’t have anything to say,” Maheshwar said. “I am neither a pastor nor run a ministry now.”

Although India officially abolished the caste system decades ago, Dalits continue to face prejudice.Across large swaths of India, upper-caste people threaten or attack Dalits for reasons as simple as wearing footwear, sporting a moustache, or riding a horse. In some especially barbaric cases, Dalits are urinated upon or forced to lick the feet of upper-caste people.

vDalit women are among the most oppressed groups in the world and are often victims of sexual violence or even murder. Dalit children top the list of dropouts in India once they reach upper primary levels. About 71 percent of Dalits are agricultural laborers working on land they don’t own.

SC status, enshrined in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, allows Dalits to attend schools and get jobs at institutions that have long shut them out, and it gives them access to welfare.

The government doesn’t grant Christians and Muslims SC status; it claims the Bible and Quran don’t endorse caste-based hierarchy, so they don’t need such a requirement. Yet in Indian society, caste transcends religion.

“There is no empirical evidence to suggest that the socioeconomic standing of Dalit Christians [has changed] drastically,” said Emanual Nahar, professor of political science at Panjab University and former chairman of the Punjab State Minority Commission. “They are worse off than Hindu Dalits. They are compelled to live with a dual identity—one for faith, another for official records.”

For instance, a Christian Dalit in his 40s (who asked to remain unnamed for security reasons) and his family in the southern state of Telangana are fighting to save their ancestral land from influential upper-caste men. The family filed a case against their opponents under the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which protects Dalits against caste-based violence and punishes offenders with a prison term of up to life imprisonment.

Most of the members in this man’s family legally retained their Hindu identity after they embraced Christianity. But his brother reported his conversion, a move that dropped him to Backward Class-C (BC-C) status, a category with fewer benefits. Although the government reserves 15 percent of positions for SC holders, that percentage drops to 1 percent for those with BC-C status. Though the family has hidden their Bibles and taken down crosses in their home, the Christian Dalit believes his opponents know his family’s religious status.

“They know we go to church,” he said. “That alone is enough to discredit us in the court.”

If the government discovers the family is Christian, they could lose their SC status and would no longer be able to file the case under the 1989 act.

“My family and I have been praying constantly for deliverance,” the Christian Dalit said. “Every Friday, during the fasting prayer, the entire church prays for us. My brother often quotes Psalm 18:2, which is a great source of encouragement.”

Under previous administrations, some called for extending SC status to all Dalits regardless of their religion. A 2007 judicial commission said SC status should be “completely de-linked … from religion.”

Not only has Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government dismissed that finding as “flawed,” citing a lack of empirical evidence; it has also testified before the Supreme Court that there is no way SC status would be given to Dalit Christians and Muslims. The Hindu nationalist government believes such a move would encourage conversion to Christianity and weaken Hinduism.

Under pressure from numerous appeals from Dalit Christians, the Modi administration set up another commission in 2022 to look into the issue. While it was supposed to submit its report last October, it has not yet done so. But many believe it will support his underlying beliefs.

Due to the subhuman treatment Dalits face, many have shunned Hinduism. European and American missionaries brought Christianity to the Dalits in the 19th and 20th centuries and provided educational opportunities and health care. As a result, some Christian Dalits have experienced upward social mobility in the government and private sectors. Dalits make up an estimated 70 percent of Christians in India, according to scholars and activists.

Yet even in the church, Dalits continue to face discrimination. Separate churches—and at times separate burial grounds—exist for different caste groups. Christian marriages also fall along caste and subcaste lines.

vThe hunt for Christian Dalits holding SC status has escalated in recent months. Hindu right-wing activists have stationed themselves outside churches, armed with cameras, to collect evidence against worshipers, said Vijaya Raju Gaddapati, president of All India Christian Federation. Some even search for tombstones bearing crosses and Christian names. They use this to find living ancestors and “out” them as Christians to take away their SC status, he added.

Because of this, Christians have been rejecting baptism certificates and documentation for marriages held in churches, fearing the documentary trail they leave behind, said Rufus Kolikapudi, activist and journalist at Siti News Mangalagiri.

But other Christians have begun to legally change their status.

A 30-year-old Dalit Christian in Telangana, who also asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, said he and his family embraced Christianity about a decade ago after his father was miraculously healed from a chronic ailment. Yet now as more Hindu groups are disclosing crypto-Christians, he has decided to voluntarily give up his SC status so he won’t be seen as doing anything illegal. In addition, he desires to reconcile his public and private identities.

Despite objections from their father, he and his brother decided to publicly state their Christian faith, which would switch them to BC-C status. The move would make it extremely difficult for him to secure a civil service position.

“I have no choice,” he said. “If I keep holding on to my SC certificate, they will call me a fraud. If I give it up, I lose the little support I had left.”

This article was originally published on https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/06/dalit-christians-india-scheduled-caste-benefits/