Author: Statesman News Service
Publication: The Statesman
Date: January 14, 2009
Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, the apex body
of Christians in West Bengal, have lodged a complaint with the National Commission
for Minorities, claiming that both Centre and state authorities place more
importance on the Muslim community, while Christians are treated as "a
minority among minorities".
In a letter written to the chairman of the
commission two days ago, Bangiya Christiya Pariseba complained that the members
of the state minority commission do not have enough power to protect the rights
of minority communities. As a result of this impotence, the smaller minority
communities, including Christians, are unable to exercise their minority rights
and priviledges.
According to the census, there are around
10 lakh Christians in the state, around 90 per cent of whom reside in rural
Bengal. Almost the entire population is Bengali-speaking. However, there are
no Christian representatives in the state minority commission. In addition,
Bangiya Christiya Pariseba claimed in their letter that the census is flawed,
suggesting that there are significantly more Christians in the state than
the figures suggest. The letter points to the careless manner in which such
surveys are conducted, highlighting the fact that officials often list Christians
as Hindus, basing their assumptions solely on the basis of Bengali names and
surnames. It was further alleged that Christians under the OBC category are
harassed and denied OBC certificates.
The Bangiya Christiya Pariseba also claimed
that a good portion of the publicised welfare programmes for minorities are
not fully or properly implemented. For example, the state government offers
various scholarship schemes for students, but around 10,000 candidates are
yet to receive any response to their applications, even though the current
academic session is scheduled to end within a few months.
