AICU Urges Modi NOT to Impose Policies that Erode National Unity
All India Catholic Union (AICU) urged Modi Government not to impose policies that erode national unity, target religious and ethnic minorities and impact on economic growth; Uniform Civil Code, saffronized new education policy have no national consensus. Un-planned implementation of currency Demonetization has brought untold suffering to the poor, the farmers, wage earners; Justice for Kandhamal, for Dalit Christians, Christian Tribal.
Mangaluru: A press conference was addressed by the All India Catholic Union (AICU) National President, Lancy D’Cunha, (Mangaluru); National vice president Elias Vaz (Goa), Secretary General A. Chinnappan (New Delhi); and Treasurer, Alexander Anthony (Kolkatta); Immediate past president Eugene Gonsalves (Kolkotta); and past National President and Spokesman, Dr John Dayal (New Delhi), at ‘Pastoral Centre’, Shanthi Kiran-Bajjodi, Mangaluru. The AICU national working committee is meeting in Mangaluru for the first time after Mangalurean Lancy D’ Cunha took over as National President. He is the first person from Karnataka to be elected Head of the 97-year-old Laity organisation.
Addressing the media persons, Spokesperson for AICU urged Modi Government not to impose policies that erode national unity, target religious and ethnic minorities and impact on economic growth; Uniform Civil Code, saffronized new education policy have no national consensus. Un-planned implementation of currency Demonetization has brought untold suffering to the poor, the farmers, wage earners; Justice for Kandhamal, for Dalit Christians, Christian Tribal.
Dayal said, “The All India Catholic Union, the apex national Organization of the Catholic Laity in the country, has asked the NDA government to focus on major issues of employment generation for India’s youth,mitigating the hardships of farmers and labour who constitute the majority of the population, and in devising a social security safety net for every Indian citizen, and law and order. Instead of ensuring justice for all, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems intent on thrusting policies that singularly target religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities. This is evident in the proposed and RSS inspired New Education policy and the controversial Uniform Civil Code in which a sort of national referendum is being engineered by the Law Commission of India. The threat to freedom of expression and the use of the FCRA to coerce and silence Civil Society are also dangerous signals.”
Dr John Dayal also spoke on the following topics:
DEMONETIZATION
Representing a section of the law abiding citizen of India, the Catholic Laity is totally against corruption in public life, of which the generation and use of black money are such a part. The AICU, however, notes that the demonetization of Rupees 1,000 and 500 ordered by the Prime minister was done without planning and foresight, and has brought untold grief to the poor, whether farmers or urban poor. It may or may not have unearthed black money stacked by the wealthy and by the ruling class, but has certainly dealt a serious blow to cooperative banks, personal savings and labours’ livelihood. The middle class has been affected too. The agriculture economy of Karnataka will also be a victim.
UNIFORM CIVIL CODE
The AICU has not boycotted the National Law Commission but has engaged with it. It has submitted an initial response to the Law Commission on the issue of personal laws and the UCC. It has challenged the premise and the nature of questions proposed by the National Law Commission. The AICU is committed to gender justice in public life as much as in private and married life cutting across religions, regions and ethnic cities. It notes with sadness that in many sectors women are paid less than men for equal work, and are denied facilities for rearing their young children. The Union has been in solidarity with Christian women in the still only partly successful struggle to reform 19-century laws governing Christian marriages and issues.
It has also welcomed national laws such as the Special Marriages Act and the Juvenile Justice Act which help those who want to voluntarily avail of them. The intent of the government is exposed in the questionnaire released by the National Law Commission. The questions are heavily loaded against a particular community. India is a country of monumental diversity. Each religion itself mirrors this diversity. The government even during the time of NDAPrime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had,despite sustained demands by the Catholic community, failed to say what was in its mind and on which various community could and reflect.
NEW EDUCATION POLICY
The AICU joined the protest rally at Parliament House on 17th November 2016 called by the Joint Action Committee Against the Anti-People Education Policy, which had been proposed by the National Human Resources Ministry earlier this year. The protest rally was a great success and was supported by all non-BJP political parties, as well as the broad spectrum of private and minority run educational institutions. The NEP is without a doubt inspired by the RSS agenda, harks back to a Vedic era and Sanskrit as a language for the propagation of couture and nationalism.
The policy ignores the contribution of the Christian community to education in the country over the last 200 years or more. It seeks to communalize, corporatize and commercialise education, and strike down the federal rights of state governments. It will also close all avenues of higher education for the children of the poor and the marginalised, including children forced to labour. This proposed policy will undo all that has been done in education in the country. AICU will work with other religious and civic society groups in bringing about much-needed reforms that will strengthen the secular human and nation building nature of education.
KANDHAMAL
Mangaluru had also suffered violence triggered against the Christian community in August 2008. The AICU remains I solidarity with the people of Kandhamal, Orissa, in the search for justice for the widows, survivors and displaced persons who are yet to be rehabilitated after the massive persecution of 2008.
DALIT CHRISTIANS
The AICU has historically been in the forefront of the movement of Dalit Christians to regain their human and constitutional rights which were enshrined in the Constitution but were snatched away under the pressure of casteist and fundamentalist groups in 1950. The Presidential Order 1950 put a new clause in Article 341 which limited affirmative action, reservations in government employment, education and Parliamentary, State legislatures and Panchayats only to those Dalits who remained Hindus. Several Commissions and inquiries have found this to be anti-constitutional. The AICU is joining the case now before the Supreme Court to strike down the anti-constitutional cause Art 341 (iii).
Prior to the Press Meet, the “All India Catholic Union (AICU) Working Committee Meeting and Study Session was inaugurated by Bishop Rev Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza on 25 November morning, along with Walter D’souza- former president of Catholic Sabha, Mangaluru. The Session will last for the next two days -26 and 27 November, and tomorrow a huge gathering of the general public will take place.
