Book Excerpt: Caste in Old Blighty

Ambedkar warned that if Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem. Caste has migrated to Britain since the 1950s with people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka—all of which have aspects of caste. Since the 1980s, caste has also migrated with high-skilled Indians to Britain. It is evident in the names of places of worship like Gurdwaras (Sikh temples) and Mandirs (Hindu and other temples), which serve specific castes around Britain. For example, if you walk around Southall, London, you can find within walking distance the Shree Ram Mandir, Bhagwan Valmiki Mandir, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Shri Guru Ravidass Temple, and the Ramgarhia Sabha Southall. In 2021 there were six UK charities registered with the UK’s Charity Commission with the word ‘Brahmin’ in their title under organisations working with specific castes. So-called matrimonial sites make it possible to find a potential bride or groom in the UK sifted according to particular castes. Together, South Asians form five per cent of the total UK population and many still follow their culture and festivals. With these cultural activities come aspects of caste practices passed down from previous generations.

The campaign to raise awareness of the reality of the caste system in India and caste discrimination in Britain as an equality issue began in the 1970s. Ambedkar too was very keen to identify the means by which Dalit rights could be protected in law and in India’s constitution, and in this sense, the range of movements are following this method of campaigning around changes in the statutory rights and protections of these communities.

Ambedkarites living in Britain, including the late Chanan Ram Chahal and Arun Kumar of the Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford, were optimistic they had escaped caste when they migrated to Britain. They soon found they had not. In 1976, a journalist called Liz Brown perpetuated the offence and slight of caste and caste discrimination by describing ‘Untouchables’ as ‘subhumans’ in her article in The Bedfordshire Times about religions in Bedfordshire: ‘The caste system in India is thousands of years old and was designed by the Hindu priests—the Brahmins. And even though the idea of a sub-human class is repellent to us today its foundation was fairly practical. They decided that if the depressed, poverty-stricken class was to prostrate itself and kiss the floor of the temple everyone else was likely to catch whatever they were carrying. So The Untouchables were born and banned from practicing the religion.’ The word ‘subhuman’ resonated with the Nazi term Untermensch, that word’s literal translation. Dalits and Ambedkarites expressed their outrage by protesting in the streets and boycotting the local Hindu shop owner quoted in Brown’s article. After this incident, campaigners continued to share their experiences of caste discrimination with the media, the government and equality organisations. ‘The Untouchables are no longer placidly accepting their hereditary inferiority and are determined to assert themselves,’ observed the journalist Maurice Weaver in a 1990 Daily Telegraph article, ‘I thought I would escape the name but it has followed me like a dark cloud.’ Weaver reported on offensive graffiti with a four-letter expletive and the words ‘chamal on the block’ found by locals in Bedford who frequented the Gardiners Arms pub. The word Chamar (classified as Scheduled Caste, and a usage used as a pejorative for Dalits) was misspelt ‘Chamal’ in the article. The graffiti essentially identified the people who frequented the pub as Chamars, with the implication that so-called high castes might want to avoid it. Weaver observed, ‘In the workaday heart of England it is a sign that the Hindu caste system, so often described as India’s shame, is flourishing in Britain.

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As the calls increased for caste discrimination to be outlawed, so did the demand from British politicians for evidence of discrimination to support any new law. In July 2006, DSN UK published the evidence in its report No Escape—Caste Discrimination in the UK. The first of its kind, this report contained examples of caste discrimination based on a survey. The same year, the International Dalit Solidarity Network published ‘Ambedkar Principles’ that contains excellent employment principles and additional principles to address economic and social exclusion of Dalits in South Asia. This guidance is also useful for UK companies that operate in, and/or have a workforce in, India for example. In 2008 the Hindu Council UK produced its own counter-report, Caste in the UK—a summary of the consultation with the Hindu community in Britain. This included a lengthy section on the origins of the caste system. The Hindu Council UK claimed its consultation found no caste discrimination, and if it did occur, it may only be limited to intercaste marriages, and relationships. That year, the Hindu Forum of Britain (HF) also published a report, The Caste System, with similar findings. Chanan Chahal, the then President of FABO UK provided a robust response to the Hindu Council UK’s report in The Evils of Caste (2009). This report was launched jointly by FABO UK and DSN UK.

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As the caste law campaign has grown, other organisations, including the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabah UK, Europe and Abroad, the Valmiki organisations, National Secular Society with Keith Porteous-Wood, and the South Asia Solidarity Group with Amrit Wilson, have similarly supported the calls for the new law. Initially, campaigners found it a struggle to get their voice heard in the mainstream media. Without connections and opportunities it was, and continues to be, difficult. More recently, The Guardian and The Times, for example, have written on the topic. British TV channels such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and the community channel Kanshi TV now report on caste discrimination, albeit not as regularly as the campaign would like. Both sides of the debate make good use of platforms in universities to debate the issue. In 2010 the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dalits was established with DSN UK’s support. This informal group of House of Commons MPs and members of the House of Lords draws attention to the discrimination of Dalits wherever it occurs.

Excerpted with permission from Ambedkar in London @2024RupaPublications