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California's SB 403 sought to add "caste" to state anti-discrimination law — but Hindu Americans exposed its deep flaws, fought back with facts and unity, and won a landmark veto from Governor Newsom in 2023.
Hindu Americans gathered peacefully outside the California State Capitol in Sacramento to oppose SB 403, 2023.
On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom picked up his pen and vetoed Senate Bill 403 — the so-called California Caste Bill — calling it "unnecessary" because discrimination based on caste was already prohibited under existing California law.
It was a landmark moment for the Hindu American community. And it did not happen by accident.
Behind that veto was one of the most organized, sustained, and effective civil rights campaigns in Hindu American history — a coalition of temples, businesses, advocacy organizations, elected officials, and ordinary community members who refused to let a deeply flawed bill become law without a fight.
This is that story.
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 403, calling it "unnecessary" — a landmark victory for Hindu American civil rights.
What Was SB 403?
Senate Bill 403 was introduced in early 2023 by California State Senator Aisha Wahab. Its stated goal was to protect people from caste-based discrimination by adding "caste" as a protected category under California's anti-discrimination statutes — the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California Education Code.
Specifically, the bill sought to expand the definition of "ancestry" to include "caste," which it defined as "an individual's perceived position in a system of social stratification on the basis of inherited status."
Had it passed into law, California would have become the first U.S. state to explicitly ban caste discrimination — following Seattle, Washington, which had become the first U.S. city to pass such an ordinance earlier in 2023.
The bill attracted significant support. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), California Employment Lawyers Association, Legal Aid at Work, and various dubious (anti-Hindu) groups backed it. It passed through both houses of the California Legislature with strong majorities — only 8 "no" votes combined.
And yet, it had a fundamental problem. Several, in fact.
The Flaws That Could Not Be Ignored
The Hindu American community's opposition to SB 403 was not, it must be stated clearly and emphatically, a defense of caste discrimination. Caste discrimination is wrong. Wherever it occurs — in any community, under any flag — it deserves to be challenged and remedied.
The opposition was something more specific and more principled: a civil rights objection to a bill that was discriminatory in its construction, built on unscientific data, and unconstitutional in its implications.
While SB 403 does not mention Hinduism by name, the word "caste" is inseparably associated with Hinduism and India in American public consciousness. The California Education Code itself, and every major dictionary — Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and Cambridge — define caste as being a part of Hinduism. By adding caste as the first and only explicitly religion-coded term in California anti-discrimination law, SB 403 would have created a legal category that singled out one community by definition.
"SB 403 is not facially neutral, allows for the targeting and profiling of Hindus and violates our civil rights. 'Caste' is not neutral like race, religion, gender, ethnicity, ancestry and other categories."
— Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA)If you are a Hindu and wear visible markers of your faith — a bindi, a tilak, a sacred thread — or if you display deity images in your workspace, SB 403 would have added California state-sanctioned profiling on top of that visibility. Your surname, your appearance, your faith markers could all become triggers for legal scrutiny under a law that treated "Hindu" and "caste practitioner" as effectively synonymous.
Every law must be grounded in evidence. SB 403 was not. California State Senators Brian Jones and Shannon Grove noted: "No concrete evidence or data has been provided to show extensive caste discrimination in California." The primary data source cited — a survey by Equality Labs — has been widely criticized by scholars as methodologically unsound, suffering from severe selection bias. Meanwhile, the only actual legal case of caste discrimination in California was dismissed by the Santa Clara Superior County Court.
The bill's definition of caste as "an individual's perceived position in a system of social stratification based on inherited status" was, as Senator Grove warned, "so vague that it will subject businesses to baseless charges of discrimination, making them subject to predatory PAGA lawsuits." "Perceived position." Based on "inherited status." These are not legally precise terms — they are subjective, malleable, and wide open to abuse.
Governor Newsom himself made this point in his veto message. California already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. Discrimination based on caste, to the extent it occurs, is already prohibited under the "ancestry" and "religion" categories. Adding a religion-coded duplicate category served no legal purpose.
How Hindu Americans Fought Back
600 Hindu temples across North America united in opposition — their collective voice carried significant moral and civic weight.
The campaign to veto SB 403 was the most coordinated Hindu American civil rights effort in recent memory. It operated on multiple fronts simultaneously — legal, legislative, civic, and community — and it worked.
HAF was the most visible organizational force in the campaign. HAF's Samir Kalra made a direct personal appeal to Governor Newsom, invoking the Governor's own 2017 support for the Hindu community's textbook fight. HAF also announced it was prepared to file a constitutional lawsuit if the bill was signed — signaling the seriousness of the civil rights stakes.
When the veto came, HAF called it "a victory for the civil rights of all Californians" and thanked "political leaders of both parties, in all levels of government, who demonstrated moral courage in opposing this racist bill."
Read HAF Statement →CoHNA mobilized the grassroots. Hundreds of Hindu Americans gathered in peaceful protest outside the California State Capitol. CoHNA shared videos and images of the demonstrations directly with Governor Newsom's office and published the most comprehensive public resource on SB 403's legal and civil rights flaws.
Read CoHNA Resource Page →HMEC — representing 600 Hindu temples across North America — united in opposition to the bill. Temples are not just places of worship. They are community hubs, cultural anchors, and civic institutions. Their collective voice carried significant moral weight.
AAHOA — with 20,000 members who own approximately 60% of hotels in the United States, representing 1.7% of the nation's GDP — joined the opposition and made the economic argument forcefully. Nirav Patel, Convenor of the Hindu Business Network, warned: "The implications of SB 403 on Hindu and Indian businesses is shocking. Small business owners came to the US to achieve their American dream of equal opportunity and entrepreneurship."
Visit AAHOA →Ajay Shah, Convenor of HinduPACT, was unambiguous: "SB 403 is deeply flawed, ill-intentioned and targets children and youth from the Indian Subcontinent and those who follow the Hindu dharma."
California State Senators Brian Jones and Shannon Grove formally requested the veto, calling SB 403 "discriminatory, divisive, and unnecessary" and warning that it "will encourage the discrimination and profiling of our South East Asian community, especially those who embrace the Hindu religion."
Read Veto Request →The Veto — and What It Means
October 7, 2023 — Governor Newsom's veto of SB 403 was a landmark moment for Hindu American civil rights.
On October 7, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 403. His reasoning aligned precisely with what Hindu American organizations had argued: the bill was unnecessary because existing California law already prohibits caste discrimination under the categories of ancestry and religion. Adding "caste" as a separate, religion-coded category served no legal purpose — while creating significant civil rights risks for Hindu Americans.
"Today, we at the Hindu American Foundation join South Asians across California and the Hindu American community in offering our heartfelt appreciation to California Governor Gavin Newsom for his historically important veto of SB 403. This is a victory for the civil rights of all Californians."
— Hindu American Foundation"The Hindu American community's ability to see bias clearly, name it carefully, and fight it effectively is a sign of a community that has come of age civically."
The Fight Is Not Over
The SB 403 veto was a victory. But it was not the end of the story. Seattle's caste ordinance remains on the books. Fresno passed its own caste ordinance. Similar legislative efforts have been proposed in other states. The movement to add "caste" as a legal category — with all the targeting implications that carries for Hindu Americans — continues.
What the SB 403 fight demonstrated is that Hindu Americans can organize, articulate their concerns with precision and evidence, engage the legislative process with dignity, and prevail. That is a playbook worth studying and repeating.
It also demonstrated something about the nature of Hinduphobia itself: that it does not always arrive wearing a hateful face. Sometimes it arrives wearing the face of justice — in the form of well-intentioned legislation that, examined closely, embeds bias in the law itself.
What Every Hindu American Should Know
Resources & Organizations
Were you part of the fight against SB 403? Share your story — every voice in this community matters, and this victory belongs to all of you.
Share Your Story →This victory belongs to every Hindu American who called, wrote, marched, and refused to stay silent.
The tradition of standing up for Dharmic truth is as old as the tradition itself.
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