California Governor vetoes anti-caste discrimination bill

The California governor's move to veto the anti-caste discrimination bill has been welcomed by a large segment of the Indian-American community who were opposing the bill based on the same argument.

Washington : California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday vetoed the anti-caste discrimination bill recently passed by the state assembly, citing that laws to ban caste-based discrimination already exist in the state. The governor's move has been welcomed by a large segment of the Indian-American community who were opposing the bill based on the same argument.

In California, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, no matter who they are, where they come from, who they love, or where they live, Newsom said in a statement issued Saturday.

"That is why California already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, colour, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed. Because discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under these existing categories, this bill is unnecessary," Newsom explained.

For this reason, Newsom asserted that he cannot sign the bill which is known as SB403', which was passed by a large majority by both the House of Representatives and Senate of the California State Assembly. The bill defines "ancestry" for purposes of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Unruh Act, and the Education Code to include "caste" and other dimensions of ancestry.

The opponents of the bill described it as historic and said that such a move by Governor Newsom has prevented the efforts of many to target the South Asian community and the Hindus in the state. Soon, thereafter Castefiles described it as a historic decision. Governor Newsom has taken a stance to veto SB403 - an attempt to sully the Civil Rights Act by adding discriminatory notes to it with the highly contentious term CASTE, it said.

Newsom has recognized the pain and fight of the South Asian micro minority. Democracy wins today in America - the Vox populi that fought to be heard amidst the deafening roar of fake caste narratives, Castefiles said.

With the stroke of his pen, Governor Newsom has averted a civil rights and constitutional disaster that would have put a target on hundreds of thousands of Californians simply because of their ethnicity or their religious identity, as well as create a slippery slope of facially discriminatory laws, said Samir Kalra, managing director of Hindu American Foundation.

Leading Democrat Ajay Bhutoria, in a statement, expressed his gratitude to Governor Newsom for vetoing the bill and described it as a momentous development. During a recent engagement at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event in Chicago, Bhutoria from California and Rakesh Kapur from Boston urged the governor to veto the bill.

Vetoing the SB403 Caste Bill was the right course of action, elucidating the detrimental impacts it could have on the community, they told the governor in Chicago last month. This legislation was undeniably redundant and unnecessary, and I am pleased that our discussions in Chicago bore fruit. The veto of this bill is a testament to the power of constructive dialogue and collaboration," Bhutoria said in a statement.

This is a culmination of the efforts of the entire #HinduAmerican community, and the hundreds of organisations, temples, businesses, and allies that fought against #profiling. We rose above the lies, the insinuations, and the wild accusations - and we prevailed, Coalition of Hindus of North America said.