Sawant, who migrated to the US from Pune in the late 1990s, said the next step would be to enforce this new law in the city.
“We need to keep building our movement to put pressure on the courts to win a case against caste discrimination using this law, which will be essential to force the major corporations to actually abide by it. My Council office will host a public hearing in May, inviting working people to speak out,” she explained.
Last week, California State Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, also introduced the bill seeking to explicitly ban caste discrimination.
Many Indian-Americans fear that codifying caste in public policy will further fuel instances of Hinduphobia in the US.
Over the last three years, ten Hindu temples and five statues, including those of Mahatma Gandhi and Maratha emperor Shivaji, have been vandalised across the US as an intimidation tactic against the Hindu community.
Indian-Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the US.
According to data from the 2018 American Community Survey, which is conducted by the US Census Bureau, there are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States.
India banned caste discrimination in 1948 and enshrined that policy in the Constitution in 1950.
Source- Hindustan Times.