NRIs here are concerned about how the proxy vote system will be implemented and whether it will be open to abuse

~By Sajeda Momin in London

The cabinet’s decision to allow “proxy” voting for NRIs in future elections has created very little excitement among those living in the UK. While they appreciate that they are now being given the opportunity to participate in the democratic process back home, they are not confident of the implementation, particularly the fact that it is to be done by a “proxy” which is open to abuse.

“Although I welcome the decision and it is a step in the right direction as it allows Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise, I am concerned that proxy voting does not give confidence that the vote will be cast as it was intended. Maybe a postal vote or voting at the consulate could give voters some assurance that their vote has actually been cast properly,” said Jasbir Parmar, Director, National Asian Business Association. The fear is that the family member who has been given the proxy right will vote according to his/her political preference rather than the voter’s.

Though the UK has one of the oldest and most politically influential Indian diasporas in the world—now into the third and fourth generation with a record number of 12 Indian-origin Members elected to the UK parliament in 2017—the majority hold a British nationality and therefore, are not eligible to vote in India.

According to the last census of 2011, the UK recorded 1.4 million people of Indian origin in a total population of about 63 million. Of these, as of 2015, there are only around 3 lakh who are still Indian nationals and can be considered NRIs.

Had India allowed dual nationality, then the numbers may have been different. Most migrants to the UK give up their Indian nationality and become British nationals as soon as they can to avail the benefits of living and working in Britain and move around the world with ease. However, some take up the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) certificate so they can avoid visa hassles for their trips to India.

While the OCI gives people the right to come and go from India, it doesn’t allow them political or voting rights. This is a bugbear for a few, particularly those who are supporters of the current Indian government, who would like to influence politics in their erstwhile homeland.

“I think a good majority of Indian diaspora here have an OCI and thus, should have an entitlement to vote and decide who should lead the country,” said Dr Rajeev Gupta, Chairman of International Business Federation.

The demonetisation experiment by the BJP government in November last year or “currency change” as it is called here, has left many of the Indian diaspora with a bad taste in the mouth. Until then, most British nationals of Indian origin considered themselves NRIs. But during demonetisation, the Indian government classified only those holding Indian passports as NRIs.

“Demonetisation has left many OCI holders totally frustrated, particularly many elderly pensioners living abroad who are now stuck with worthless wads of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes, none of it black money, which they could not convert or hand over to a bank. They gave the facility to Indian nationals but not OCIs, making them feel discriminated against,” explained Buddhdev Pandya, MBE (Member of the British Empire) and publisher of Gujarat Times UK.

The majority of young, Indian-origin Britons are not in the least interested in what is happening in Indian politics. They consider themselves British. “Moreover, they don’t feel they have the right to interfere in the running of a country where they don’t live or pay taxes, and hence, do not want the right to vote in India” explained Pandya.

The UK government’s exercise to have a public consultation on caste has stirred a hornet’s nest. Even in such a developed country, this is an emotive and ugly issue 

By Sajeda Momin in London

Theresa May’s government stirred a hornet’s nest in September when it announced that it intended to undertake a full public consultation on caste discrimination in the UK. The Hindu diaspora of just under a million has been thrown into a tizzy, with the upper castes insisting that there is no need for such an exercise as caste is not a factor in British society. However, those belonging to lower castes say that caste discrimination is a reality they face, mainly within the Indian community.

Though the government is yet to lay out the modalities of the consultation, the issue has already raised passions and a high decibel debate is under way.

The British parliament had justified the insertion of a provision against caste discrimination in the Equality Act of 2010—which deals with other forms of discrimination—on the assumption that the caste system exists in UK’s Indian diaspora. The Act originally gave power to the minister to decide whether to implement the provision or not. However, in a landmark decision, an amendment in 2013 made implementation obligatory, but so far it has not been done. The decision to outlaw caste discrimination came after a long and hard battle fought by the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) and other human rights groups.

The current Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has been a trustee of the IDSN, had said he was aware of caste discrimination abroad but was “horrified” to “realise that caste discrimination had been exported to the UK too”.

A number of research papers carried out by the IDSN and government-commissioned researchers like the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission have documented that caste discrimination exists in various forms within diaspora communities from the Indian sub-continent. It can lead to harassment, bullying and violence in the work place, in the provision of services and in education, says a briefing paper of the IDSN.

A number of research papers carried out by the IDSN and government-commissioned researchers like the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission have documented that caste discrimination exists in various forms within diaspora communities from the Indian sub-continent. It can lead to harassment, bullying and violence in the work place, in the provision of services and in education, says a briefing paper of the IDSN.

Ram Lakha, the former mayor of Coventry—a city in central England about 100 miles north of London and which has a large Gujarati population—faced discrimination in his political career because he was a Dalit. “During campaigning for the council elections I was told that I would not get the support of the Gujarati voters because I was a ‘chamar’. So I filed my nomination from a non-Indian constituency and was able to win,” said Lakha.

It is also customary for the local Indian community to honor each new mayor elected so as to maintain good relations with the council, but Lakha’s achievement was not recognized in the same manner because he was from a low caste. “I recently discovered from my children that they suffered difficulties at school too but they never told me. Caste feelings are there and it will take a long time for them to die out,” explained Lakha.

As no caste-based census has been carried out in the UK, there is no exact figure of how many low caste Hindus live here, but their numbers are estimated to be in lakhs. Caste Watch UK, IDSN and other rights group say that caste discrimination is often very subtle and takes different forms. These include upper caste patients refusing appointments from doctors once they realize they are from the lower castes, health care professionals refusing to treat elderly from the Dalit community, victimization in the workplace and unfair dismissal because of caste.

The landmark Begraj & Begraj Vs Heer Manak became the first case of caste-based discrimination in the UK to be recorded in courts. In 2011, an Indian couple told an employment tribunal they faced discrimination in the workplace, ironically a solicitor’s firm, and were unfairly dismissed because they were from different castes. Vijay Begraj and his wife, Amardeep, met when working at Heer Manak, the solicitor’s firm, in Coventry. Amardeep, a Jat, said she was warned against marrying Vijay, a Dalit, by a senior colleague on the grounds “that people of his caste were ‘different creatures’ and his position in the firm was ‘compromised’”.

Vijay claims that after the marriage, he was harassed, threatened, denied promotion and ultimately dismissed. But the case collapsed in February 2013 as the judge recused herself after a visit by police officers, and may now be subject to a retrial.

The anti-legislation lobby is led by the Alliance of Hindu Organisations, which has expressed “concerns about…  the impact it may have on communities living within the UK”. More importantly, it believes that any anti-caste discrimination legislation is a direct slight on Hinduism. At a recent public debate on the Act organized by the Indian Forum on British Media at the House of Commons committee room, Satish Sharma, general secretary of the Council of Hindu Temples, said the legislation would be a “recipe for disaster”, creating friction within the Indian community.

Trupti Patel, president of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said her organization had found scant evidence of caste-discrimination. She claimed that the legislation would have the negative effect of making young people “aware of their caste for the first time, and encourage people to make unfounded complaints against their employers”.

Bob Blackman, the Conservative MP for Harrow East in London which is home to a very large number of Hindus, warned the legislation would lead to “completely unnecessary interference” and a “bureaucratic nightmare of proportion the Hindu community would not want to see”. Blackman, who is also the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Hindus, remarked that the caste legislation had generated more interest and involvement from the UK Indian community than any other issue he had ever encountered.

However, for Dalit rights groups, this is not a Hindu issue but one of basic human rights. Satpal Muman, chair of Caste Watch UK, said: “This is not about invading the religious and cultural space. It is purely targeted at discrimination in the public sphere. Caste discrimination is a human rights violation.” Even if a small section of people believed in the caste system, it would have an impact on the lives of people, he stressed and added that “victims of caste-based discrimination deserve legal clarity”.

The supporters of the legislation feel that the announcement of a consultation is just a stalling tactic at the behest of the Caste-Hindu lobby. Section 9 of the Equality Act of 2010, amended by parliament in 2013, already required the government to introduce secondary legislation to make caste an aspect of race, so why the fresh consultation, they ask. “The government may be hoping the consultation will allow them to point to popular opinion to justify them refusing to introduce legislation required of them by Parliament and the UN,” said Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society. The consultation is expected to begin before the end of this month and run for 12 weeks.

Lead picture: Indian Diaspora protesting in UK against the caste-discrimination. Photo: www.oxpolicy.co.uk