'Dalit' Christians in troubled Indian mining city hide faith for rights

Published: 2008-01-03

KOLAR GOLD FIELDS, India (CNS) -- A statue of Jesus stands surrounded by idols and portraits of Hindu deities in a tailoring shop, just one way some "dalits," or members of low castes, try to hide their Christian identity. While more than one-third of the 200,0000 people in Kolar Gold Fields are Christians -- an overwhelming majority of them dalits -- many dalit Christians hide their religion to escape the constitutional discrimination they live with if it is made public. "This is not because of their lack of faith or trust in God. It has to be seen in the context of their poverty," Antony Madali Muthu, a Catholic dalit activist in the mining town, told Catholic News Service. In 1950, the Indian government reserved 15 percent of the slots in schools and government jobs for dalits and guaranteed free education for dalits. While this was confined to Hindu dalits, the rights later were extended to Sikh and Buddhist dalits. However, the Christian and Muslim dalits are denied these rights.

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