New Delhi

Rajya Sabha DMK member P Wilson on Wednesday asked the government to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Minorities, strengthen its investigative and enforcement powers to protect the interest of minority communities better.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the House, Wilson thanked the Chair for allowing him to speak on a matter that goes to the very soul of the Constitution.

"In recent years, India has witnessed a disturbing escalation in targeted violence against minority communities. Mob lynching, attacks on pastors, priests, the systematic vandalism of churches and mosques," he said, and cited data in support of his argument.

He further said anti-conversion laws are increasingly misused in some states to file multiple FIRs, even against minors.

People are arrested and kept in jail for months, only to be acquitted later, the DMK MP said.

Since 2020, he said nearly 400 cases have been registered under anti-conversion laws leading to the arrest of 1,200 individuals.

"They strike at the very heart of a constitutional promise of equality, secularism, and religious freedom. And at a time when minorities need institutional protection the most, the National Commission for Minorities, the body meant to act as a sentinel of justice, has been reduced to an empty office building," he said.

He highlighted that the posts of chairperson, vice chairperson, and all members are lying vacant.

The DMK MP further said these vacancies have persisted for over 10 months and some of them more than 3 years.

"It sends a chilling message that minority constitutional safeguards can be left unaddressed indefinitely," he added.

He further said that in 2017-18, the parliamentary standing committee on social justice and empowerment described the commission as most ineffective in addressing discrimination, marginalisation, and violence, and it recommended granting constitutional status to the National Commission for Minorities without delay.

Wilson said currently, its powers are merely advisory. He also said that a former chairperson described the commission as a toothless tiger because it has only recommendatory powers.

"Nearly a decade later, instead of strengthening the commission, the government has allowed it to collapse entirely. I urge the honourable minister, minority affairs to fill the vacancies in the commission immediately," he said.

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The DMK member urged the Union government to amend both the Constitution of India and the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, and make it a constitutional body.

He asked the government to define atrocities against minorities, as criminal offence, and empower the commission to issue directions to register cases, strengthen its investigative and enforcement powers to protect the interest of minority communities better.