The quandary of caste for Sikhs in the UK

Abstract

Taking as a starting point the vacillating support for the legislation on caste discrimination in the United Kingdom offered by a variety of Sikh organisations, whilst scholarly studies have noted the continuing mark of caste on the sociality of Sikhs in the diaspora, this chapter delves into likely explanations for the reticent stance taken by Sikh deniers of casteism. Chronologically locating three moments of the Sikhs’ confrontation with caste in the recent past, and through seven new case studies, the Hinduisation of Sikhi, the culturalisation of caste, and the failure to combat caste consciousness explicitly are presented as the causes for the quandary of caste for Sikhs in the United Kingdom.