Anglo-Indian and Christian groups on Thursday held a candlelight vigil to protest against the removal of the nomination of MPs and MLAs from the Eurasian community in 2020 and atrocities against Christians.

Former Anglo-Indian MP of the Congress, Charles Dias, who co-organised the event at Sacred Heart Cathedral here, told The Telegraph: "We want to be enumerated separately (in the census which is due since 2021), not along with other Christians. The removal of our nominations was not based on scientific data as the 2011 census was not a caste census. A double standard is seen on the Maratha reservation in the Supreme Court where it was said that census data could not be relied upon."

Article 366(2) of the Constitution defines any Indian domicile of European patrilineal descent as “Anglo-Indian”.

The 2011 census had listed only 296 Anglo-Indians in India as most of them had reported their community as Christian. This figure was cited by then law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad when he introduced the 126th amendment in 2019 that ended the Anglo-Indian reservation.

The same census had listed no Anglo-Indians in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh despite the BJP nominating four Anglo-Indian MLAs from the states from 2016 to 2019.

Dias said: “We are a microscopic linguistic minority which needs to protect its culture. A report by the minority affairs ministry in 2013 shows that Anglo-Indians have a serious housing problem. We are economically and educationally backward…. The Supreme Court moved our case (challenging the amendment) to Delhi High Court in 2022 where it is still
pending. It took the Centre one-and-a-half years to even submit its affidavit in the case.”

The vigil was attended by top catholic clerics as well as Congress MPs from Kerala Hibi Eden, Anto Antony, Benny Behanan and Dean Kuriakose. The organisers said in a statement: "This vigil was also held to attract the attention of the government towards attacks on Christians all over the country and harassment of principals and priests who are heads of Christian institutions.”