Interaction with Dalit Christian Colony

The BD students doing a course on Dalit Theology had a meaningful exposure to a dalit colony known as ‘Christian Colony’ in Kalinayakahalli, about 60 kms from Bangalore, Karnataka on 24^th November, 2013. This was arranged as a part of the Dalit Theology course on behalf of the Department of Theology and Ethics of the United Theological College by Dr. George Zachariah and Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, the course instructors. The students from the Student Christian Movement in India also joined the exposure. The intention of this visit was to give a wider exposure to the life and spirituality of rural Dalit Christians so as to understand the dalit realities which would help the students in their discourses of doing Dalit Theology from the perspective of the Dalits and Dalit Christians.

The session began by participating in the communion worship service in the village church followed by group discussions about various aspects and issues of the local Dalit Christians in general and dalits in general. Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, lead the students through a profound exposure to the Christian dalit issues and thus helped in understanding the importance of Dalit Christian realities in doing Dalit Theology. Rev. Rueben Manohar, a UTC alumnus and pastor in this congregation in Kalinayakahalli was instrumental in explaining the life-style, Christian faith and spirituality and issues pertaining to the Dalit Christian realities. Later the students visited the dalit colony and interacted with the people to know better about the dalit life and spirituality. The students discussed the issues that caught their attention and sought clarifications and insights from Rev. Raj Bharath Patta and Rev. Rueben Manohar. The visit was very helpful for the students in forming and articulating theology from the dalit perspective and thus addressing the issues of oppression, alienation, marginalization and humiliation. 

The students felt that this exposure gave a better understanding about the life realities and situations of rural dalit Christians and expressed sincere gratitude to the course instructors, Dr. George Zachariah and Rev. Raj Bharath Patta and to the SCMI for organizing such a meaningful exposure. It was also suggested that more such exposures could help in doing theology in dalit and subaltern perspectives in a better way.

Photos and report- Paul Karunakar, BD III

JK

Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Reimagining Christian Public Witness in India

Dr. Mohan Larbeer

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta

A public lecture on the topic "Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Reimagining Christian Public Witness in India" was held in UTC at 5:00 P.M. yesterday. Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, the General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement India (SCMI) gave the main lecture and it was moderated and commented on by Dr. Mohan Larbeer, the secretary of the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC). The lecture was jointly conducted by UTC and SCMI.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta explained the loss of life of Ilavarasan, a dalit man, as a murder and something for which all are responsible. He gave a blow by blow account of the issue which lead to the death of Ilavarasan. The violence of the Vaniyars against dalits was brought out clearly. He saw the incident as
1. The violence against dalit communities after inter caste marriages.
2. There is a anti-dalit hate campaign and also an attempt to say that they are coming up and dressing up like others.
3. There is a political conspiracy to spit venom against dalit communities and this is for the creation of an electoral constituency.
4. There is an ongoing increase of suicides among dalits in various places.
5. There is a nexus between caste and politics, caste and patriarchy and caste and power.

For Raj Bharath the need to remember Ilavarasan today is that he reminds us of several others and their struggles against injustice. Ilavarasan reminds us of Rosa Parks, the modern civil rights movement and the life of resilience. Ilavarasan also reminds us of Nelson Mandela and archbishop OscarRomero. Rev. Bharath pointed out that high caste Hindu educated youth are campaigning against inter caste marriages and saying that their crusade is to preserve Indian traditions. He therefore said that inter caste marriages are the need of the hour if we have to thwart false traditions. Dr. Ambedkar also had such a view.

Rev. Bharath then articulated the problem of caste with what Felix Wilfred and Satish Deshpande have written and talked about as our silence on caste. Rev. Bharath finally brought in an analysis from the bible in the form of the story of Cain and Abel and said that Ilavarasan's death is like Abel's death. It was not death but murder. The retort of Cain "Am I my brother's keeper?" is what we are doing by not talking about Ilavarasan. Good news for the poor is bad news to the rich.

He then talked of a positive story in the bible regarding Ruth and Boaz and how their marriage was inter-territorial and went beyond set boundaries. This is the same route the church must take in India. He ended with a letter written to Ilavarsan confessing our inability to help him and affirming that Ilavarasan is now an epitome of hope to the community.

Dr. Larbeer started by saying that he has always been a supporter of inter caste love marriages. He gave a succint report on the real situation of caste in Tamil Nadu referring to the problem between the Vaniyar dominated PMK and the dalits. He brought out the key issue of the economics of caste and how this was also very much an issue of how the social upward mobility of the dalits was a problem to other castes. He also reminded those present of the new expression of dalit capitalism. He ended by saying "No one can murder or kill love." Students and faculty from UTC and the SCMI unit from Goodwill Women's Christian College attended the lecture.

Dr. Sahayadhas introduced the speakers, Dr. Allan Palanna and Dr. George Zachariah made venue arrangements and took care of logistics, Ms. Veronica, MTh II and Mr. Paul Karunakar, BD III helped in the conduct of the programme and Rev. Dinesh, MTh II offered prayer.

Public lecture by the Department of Theology and Ethics and SCMI

The department of Theology and Ethics of the UTC and the Student Christian Movement of India will be jointly hosting a public lecture on "Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Re-imagining Christian Public Witness in India" at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, July 22, 2013 at the Ziegenbalgh chapel in the United Theological College.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, General Secretary of the SCMI will be delivering the lecture and it will be presided over by Rev. Dr. Mohan Larbeer, the Secretary, Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College. All are invited.