NEW DELHI: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( MIM ) head Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday dubbed the Presidential order of 1950 limiting Scheduled Caste status to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists as “communal”, and sought that dalit status be opened to other religious minorities, only to see the government turn down the demand.

Seizing the opportunity offered by an innocuous legislation for inclusion of new communities in Sikkim in the SC list, Owaisi asked how SC status could be limited to three religions. “This is violation of the right to equality… This is discrimination against Muslims and Christians. The Presidential order (defining SCs) is a communal order,” he said.

Demanding SC status for other minorities, Owaisi said the Rangnath Misra Commission had recommended that dalit category should be made religion-neutral.

The MIM chief lamented that the Centre had over eight years refused to file an affidavit spelling out its stand on the issue in the Supreme Court which is hearing a related petition. “The government should file a reply in the apex court,” he said.

While the demand triggered an uproar from BJP benches, social justice minister Thavar Chand Gehlot kept mum on the affidavit but said the existing constitutional provisions made it clear that dalits could only be Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, and that the demand made by Owaisi could not be accepted.

A sensitive debate among minorities, the demand that dalit category be opened to all communities erupted during the UPA regime but the Congress kept a distance apprehending reaction from social groups.

However, Gehlot, who took over as social justice minister in the BJP government, told TOI recently that opening up the SC list to Muslims and Christians would encourage religious conversions, adding that the Centre was against it.