No other cause, legislation has united British Indian community with sole exception of saving Hare Krishna temple, where CB and GS/AV took the lead, as this outdated caste legislation, brainchild of feudal Lords with vested interest.
I wrote to 20 MPs at the time, those who replied, readily admitted that none have received a single complain based on Caste, will not support such legislation, yet all voted in favour, presumably under pressure from fiduciary leadership.
I watched heated, fiddle-faddle discussion in HOC some years back. If my memory serves me right, Jo Swenson (LibDem) and Alok Sharma (Conservative) shared our views, eloquently opposing the bill.
CB’s personal experience when attending weddings is also our own. Some 90% of marriages among Hindus are inter-caste; inter faith marriages, mainly but not solely, between Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and occasionally with indigenous British people where caste is, nor have ever been of any relevance. Even BBC, with all its resources could not find a single relevant, believable example in their programme which tried hard to support this legislation. Does anyone have to prove one’s caste before entering a temple?
It is time our ill-informed politicians stop wasting valuable resources and concentrate on real issues like sexually exploiting children, epidemic of acid attacks that hug our TV screen on daily basis. But unless our fickle, gnarled community unite, we will always be paupers in political arena, tools in the hands of manipulative politicians, to be exploited at will.
Bhupendra M. Gandhi
By email
