RANCHI, India (UCAN) -- Pro-Hindu groups in the eastern state of Jharkhand have demanded an end to the state quota for tribal Christians, saying conversion disqualifies them from government concessions.

A May 3 press release from Ramtahal Chaudhary, a state legislative assembly member, said that tribals converted to Christianity "are no more tribals. They have lost their right of being tribals."

Chaudhary and his two colleagues in the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party) have called for a "rethinking" of the reservation policy.

Archbishop Telesphore P. Toppo of Ranchi said the new move was a "ploy to destabilize" tribals, who have been united in pressing for their rights in the tribal dominated region.

Tribal leaders such as Father Augustine Kerketta note that the new BJP demand may be aimed to placate non-Christian tribals because it would mean larger opportunities for them, even if the quota was small.

Tribals were entitled to 27 percent of government jobs and educational facilities in Bihar state, from which the Jharkhand state was formed in 2000.

As the new state, purportedly created to accelerate tribal advancement, formulates new policies, tribals have been demanding that 60 percent of jobs in all fields, including the state legislature, be reserved for tribals.

The division among tribals "would weaken" their movement for a larger quota, and their fight against non-tribal dominated BJP, Church people said.

Noting that federal and state governments have so far not distinguished between Christian tribals and non-Christian tribals in matters of quota, Chaudhary proposed that legislators "rethink" the policy.

Divakar Minj, a tribal and BJP leader, told media June 3 that tribals who have become Christians but seek "social equality" must not be given the reserved quota since it would only "hurt the (state's) sense of equality."

State Power Minster Lalchand Mahto, another BJP leader, demanded the same day that Christians be removed from the backward class list since the "creamy layer" had been removed from such list.

"Creamy layer" was a term Indian courts used in referring to those who originally belonged to a socially backward caste or community, but have advanced financially or have achieved some level of education later.

Suggesting that tribal Christians in Jharkhand are educationally and economically advanced because of missionary institutions, Mahto said, "Only non-Christian tribals" should be allowed to enjoy the quota for tribals.

But Archbishop Toppo, himself a tribal, told UCA News that "a few Christian tribals" may have improved, but "generally, tribals continue to be socially (disadvantaged) and economically poor."

Tribal leaders complain that 90 percent of government officials in the state are non-tribals from outside the state, although tribals form 70 percent of the state's 21 million people. Moreover, tribals could win only 27 of the 81 seats in the legislature, they add.

Official statistics place the tribal population as only 27 percent in the mineral rich state, but tribal leaders dismiss the state statistics as "fabricated."

Salkhan Murmu, a leader in the fight for a larger quota for tribals, said the reservation issue is "beyond religion and they cannot be mixed."

Murmu, a non-Christian tribal leader and a BJP legislative member, asserted that the fight will continue and tribals will stand united because, he noted, "Accepting Christianity does not (automatically) make socio-economic changes."

Saba Ahmed, a Muslim and legislative member, told UCA News that the state government is caught in a dilemma when the tribal movement stepped up the campaign for a larger quota. "That is why BJP leaders are talking (about excluding Christian tribals) to divide the tribal movement, he said.

Archbishop Toppo asserted that BJP leaders have "no right to talk about the tribals." The tribals, he said, will "think for themselves, and we have to do what we have to do."

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