Caste row reaches boiling point in UK
The Theresa May government faces a delicate balancing act on the sensitive issue of outlawing caste-based discrimination when a public consultation ends on Monday, as rival lobbying from the 1.5 million-strong Indian community reaches a boil with high-profile interventions.
The issue has implications for New Delhi, which has opposed clubbing ‘caste’ with ‘race’ in the past.
The May government is also loathe to rile the Narendra Modi government at a time when postBrexit Britain is focusing on enhancing trade with India.
The Indian community is deeply divided on the issue, with influential Hindu, Sikh and Jain lobbies denying that caste-based discrimination exists in Britain. While they say enacting such a law would entrench ideas of caste where none exist. Dalit groups and several individuals insist it exists, making the law necessary.
Caste-based discrimination is not expressly prohibited under Britain’s equality legislation, but section 9 of the Equality Act, 2010, as amended, requires the government to introduce secondary legislation to make caste an aspect of race, thereby making caste-based discrimination a form of race discrimination.
The latest high-profile intervention on the issue is from celebrated Mumbai-born sculptor Anish Kapoor, who told The Sunday Times that the government must enact the law to prevent caste-based discrimination.
Kapoor, 63, called it an ‘interesting anomaly’ and told the paper: “It is outlawed in India, so why not in Britain? It is discrimination at the most vile level. The government introduced laws against slavery, so why can they not act on this?”
“My parents are cosmopolitan and modern and paid no heed to this. But the truth is that there are parts of India where a lower-caste person is not allowed to enter a street or is not allowed to go into a shop. If they go into a shop, things are put on the floor for them”. “We love to think of Britain as progressive. It will be disgraceful if the government bows to pressure and does not act on this key area of human rights,” he added.
The Conservative government is seen to be close to the HinduSikh-Jain groups, while Labour and Liberal Democrats are on the pro-law side.
Conservative MP from Harrow East Bob Blackman calls the legislation “ill thought-out, divisive and unnecessary”.
Prime Minister May told HT before the June 8 election: “I recognise the sensitivity on the caste issue; there is a consultation taking place. There was wording put into the relevant legislation in the House of Lords by Labour and Liberal Democrats working together on that, but I realise how sensitive this issue is.”