Indian Americans allege legislative moves aim to target and demoralize community

Indian Americans alleged that there is a state-level targeting using law as an oppressive method to profile an immigrant population.

Washington: The recent legislative moves in the US against caste-based discrimination is an attempt to victimise the growing Indian American community and demoralise them, participants of the first of its kind CastCon have alleged.

Held in Fremont city in California on Sunday, CasteCon attracted Indian Americans from in and around Silicon Valley and other parts of the country. The participants spoke about some of theses legislative moves in California and other parts of the country.

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The participants alleged that there is a state-level targeting using law as an oppressive method to profile an immigrant population.

Organisers said the core objective of CasteCon 2023 is to combat the introduction of Caste, a corrosive social construct that originated during the British colonial era in India, into American society.

This move is not only deemed unnecessary and superfluous to US law but also has the potential to undermine community cohesion and adversely impact unaware future generations, a media release said.
According to organisers, one of the local elected officials said that Indian Americans appear as wealthy, successful and powerful drivers of the silicon valley economy it was a revelation to learn that the community silently endures and fights undercurrents of colonial legacies.

Their historical colonisation was similar to Native Americans and African Americans. SB 403 — a bill passed by California State Senate to ban caste-based discrimination in the State, seems to have scratched those wounds for the diaspora, it said.

Addressing the conference, a Hindu leader from the United Kingdom, Satish K Sharma said: “I am devastated to witness the contempt with which Hindus have been treated in today’s California, simply because they are Hindus and totally unjustifiably ‘perceived’ to be oppressors.”

Rishi Kumar from California said: “As a California Democrat, a Congressional candidate from Silicon Valley and a former executive board member of the California Democratic Party serving multiple terms and also twice elected to the Saratoga City Council, I oppose Sacramento’s caste bill, SB 403.” “There is no historical or legal precedent for caste regulation in the United States. This unnecessary bill stokes division and will lead to a rise in Hinduphobia and Asian hate crimes. Sacramento must stop manufacturing problems and address real ones – like California’s decline under failed policies. Californians deserve principled leadership, not politics as usual or redundant bills that will foment hatred,” Kumar said.

Making his maiden public appearance, successful Indian American entrepreneur Sunder Iyer, exonerated defendant in the Cisco Caste discrimination case, said that he was being accused of being anti-Dalit and was dragged into litigation because of no fault of his.

“I gave away the entirety, that is 100 per cent of my CEO equity in my Cisco startup to all of my employees, including to John Doe (the anonymous Dalit plaintiff). I hired and compensated Doe (my classmate), with several millions of dollars. Despite that, the CRD (Civil Rights Department) accused me (on behalf of Doe), of salary discrimination, for not giving Doe a raise of a few thousand dollars in October 2016,” Iyer said.

Iyer and his colleague Kompella filed a motion to sanction the CRD in January 2023, for filing a case that had no legal or factual basis.

The CRD withdrew their case against Iyer and Kompella, in April 2023. Participants at the conference said Californians are expressing serious concerns about the CRD’s actions in the Cisco case, as the facts become public.

Recently California for Justice, a grassroots organisation, demanded an explanation for the CRD’s multi-year, repeated racist and xenophobic remarks against Indian Americans in the Cisco case.

Last month, even local Silicon Valley Senator, Josh Becker tweeted about his serious concerns about the CRD’s actions.

“Till today, there has been no public acknowledgement or response from the CRD,” CasteCon said in a statement.