The undersigned Hindu organisations in the UK wish to respond to the news article published in Asian Voice on 3rd January 2015 titled ‘Cameron blocks ban on Caste bias’.
We fully endorse PM Cameron on his principled and intelligent position on ‘caste. For your readers let us be very clear, it was the Labour Party that promoted the ‘caste’ legislation under the pretence of the Lord Harries amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.
Leading Hindu Organisations came together under the auspices of the ‘Alliance of Hindu Organisations’ and repeatedly informed the Labour front bench that the caste legislation was ill-conceived, had no integrity, had no evidence and that the existing ‘Equalities Act’ as it stood already had sufficient bandwidth to consider all forms of discrimination. They ignored our pleas and voted against the interest of Hindus in this corrupt legislation.
We commend the Prime Minister and the Conservative MPs and Lords who voted in favour of the Hindu position en-masse.
The Lord Harries Amendment is a disgrace and disrespects all people of Indic faiths. It must be rejected and repealed at the first opportunity. We shall be asking each Party Leader to confirm to us in writing what they intend to do post the next General Election. We hope this letter conveys to all your leaders the facts as they stand and the position of our community and the undersigned organisations.
Lakshmi Kaul
Chair,
Public Relations and Special Adviser, Jammu & Kashmir Affairs
British Hindu Voice [BHV]
Coalition for Dialogue
Hindu Council UK [HCUK]
Hindu Forum of Britain [HFB]
Jain Samaj
Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society [KPCS]
National Council of Hindu Temples [NCHT]
Nepalese Hindu Forum UK
Sanatan Mandir Leicester
