Andhra Pradesh to take up the Dalit Christian issue with the centre
(June 8, 2009) Leaders of Christian Churches of southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state
last week met the state chief minister to lobby with the central government to grant
schedule caste (SC) status to Dalit Christians. While meeting Chief Minister Y.S.
Rajasekhara Reddy on Saturday in the state capital, Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh
Federation of Churches (APFC), which is a state-level body of Bishops and Church Heads
of all Christian communities in Andhra Pradesh, felicitated him on assuming the second
term and presented a memorandum for the cause of Dalit Christians. Reddy accepted
to take up issue of SC status to the Dalit Christians with Central Government especially
with the Union Ministers for Law and Justice and for Social Justice and Empowerment.
He agreed to lead a state delegation of Bishops and Church leaders to the Centre to
persuade the Centre. Catholic Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad, the Executive
Vice- President of APFC presented the memorandum the the chief minister on behalf
of the about 40 delegates. The memorandum contained several other issues related
to Christian churches in Andhra Pradesh.