What Is the Use of the ‘Dalit Muslim’ Debate in a Country Where Muslims Themselves Are Being Questioned?

What Is the Use of the ‘Dalit Muslim’ Debate in a Country Where Muslims Themselves Are Being Questioned?

Kayal Ahamed Sahib

Chennai, June 15

For a long time, debates have been taking place regarding the rights and reservation benefits granted to Scheduled Castes (SCs) under the Constitution of India. In particular, the question of whether these benefits should be extended to members of Dalit communities who have embraced Islam or Christianity has acquired significant political, social, and legal importance.

Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, originally stated that no person professing a religion other than Hinduism would be deemed to belong to a Scheduled Caste. Subsequently, Sikhs were included in 1956 and Buddhists in 1990. However, Dalit communities belonging to Islam and Christianity have still not been included in this category.

In this context, the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, popularly known as the Ranganath Misra Commission, observed in its study that caste-based social discrimination and oppression do not disappear entirely merely because a person changes religion. The Commission pointed out that social marginalisation, educational backwardness, and economic deprivation continue to persist in many places.

In its report, the Commission used the terms “Dalit Muslims” and “Dalit Christians” and undertook a specific study of the social injustices faced by these groups. It further argued that denying them constitutional protections solely on the ground that they had changed their religion was unjust.

Accordingly, the Ranganath Misra Commission recommended the removal of the religion-based restriction contained in Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. It emphasised that Scheduled Caste status should be determined not by religion but by the history of social and structural oppression.

These recommendations of the Ranganath Misra Commission gave rise to important debates in India concerning social justice, equality, and reservation policies. Legal and political discussions on whether Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians should be granted Scheduled Caste status continue to this day.

Against this backdrop, the K. G. Balakrishnan Commission was constituted by the Union BJP Government in October 2022. The primary objective of the Commission is to examine whether Scheduled Caste status should be extended to members of Dalit communities who have converted to Islam or Christianity. The Commission is also studying whether such individuals continue to experience social oppression, untouchability, and caste-based discrimination after conversion, and whether amendments to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, are necessary.

The Commission was originally expected to submit its report in 2024. However, since it was required to gather views from various stakeholders, its tenure was extended several times. Under the most recent extension, the Commission’s term was prolonged until 10 June 2026. Reports indicate that its study has now been completed and that the report is ready for submission.

The impact of this report is likely to be substantial. If the Commission recommends extending Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, it could serve as an important basis for amending the 1950 Scheduled Castes Order and could also influence judgments in cases currently pending before the Supreme Court. At the same time, the report is certain to have a long-term impact on national debates concerning reservations, political representation, social justice, and religious conversion.

Notably, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind have filed petitions before the Supreme Court seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit communities that have embraced Islam. They argue that denying Muslim and Christian Dalits a right that is presently available to Sikhs and Buddhists is contrary to the principle of equality.

Although Islam does not recognise caste distinctions, the petitioners contend that Dalit Muslims continue to face social and economic discrimination within the Indian social context. Therefore, they maintain that granting Scheduled Caste status would enable progress in education, employment opportunities, and political representation.

Islam as a religion emphatically advocates complete equality. Consequently, parties such as the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) argue that classifying Muslims within caste categories would amount to accepting that casteism exists within Islam.

Although Islam does not theoretically recognise the identity of a “Dalit”, it is nevertheless true that Muslims whose forebears embraced Islam after enduring generations of oppression in India continue to remain socially and economically disadvantaged.

Regardless of the religion from which a person embraces Islam, and irrespective of the caste background from which he or she adopts the Islamic way of life, that individual is known solely by the identity of being a Muslim from that very moment.

Islam grants no religious recognition to caste-based classifications such as Dalit Muslim, OBC Muslim, BC Muslim, or Brahmin Muslim. A fundamental principle of Islam is that a person’s worth is determined by faith and righteous deeds, not by birth.

Islam regards humanity as a single family. It teaches that all human beings were created by one God and share common parents in Adam and Hawwa (Eve). Therefore, there is not the slightest room in Islam for considering one person inferior to another or for promoting notions of superiority and inferiority based on birth.

The Holy Qur’an emphasises that human beings were created as different peoples and communities so that they may know one another, not so that one group may dominate another.

Islamic forms of worship also put this principle of equality into practice. During prayer, the wealthy and the poor, rulers and ordinary citizens, and people from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds stand shoulder to shoulder in a single row. This serves as a powerful symbol of fraternity that transcends all human distinctions.

Therefore, Islam’s clear position is that all human beings are equal; no one is superior or inferior by birth; and that good character and God-consciousness alone constitute a person’s true distinction. It is on the basis of this principle that Islam upholds universal brotherhood, equality, and human dignity.

The ideology of the RSS, according to its critics, is structured around the objective of eliminating Muslims from India root and branch.

At a time when the country is governed by the BJP, the political wing of the RSS, accepting the terminology “Dalit Muslims” in the hope of securing reservation benefits is nothing more than a dream.

For this reason, we oppose the very expression “Dalit Muslim”. Muslims possess a common identity and remain Muslims alone. There are no caste divisions in Islam. In truth, there are no such divisions among Muslims either.

Therefore, irrespective of whatever report the K. G. Balakrishnan Commission may submit concerning Muslims, Indian Muslims are not particularly concerned about it.

When the very identity of being Muslim is itself under attack, the question before Indian Muslims today is: for whose benefit is this debate about granting “Dalit Muslim” status?

(Kayal Ahamed Sahib, advocate is State Secretary (Ideological Propaganda Wing) of  Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK)