“Once we win California, the nation is next,” Thenmozhi Soundararajan says. She is an activist who is fighting for a bill that aims to ban caste discrimination in California, which Governor Newsom has just more than a week left to sign or veto.

Backers of the measure are calling for other states to follow California’s lead by promoting similar legislation. “We believe that once California implements SB403, other states will follow,” the communications director, Dani Sher, of a civil rights group called Equality Labs, which Ms. Soundararajan founded, says. 

Equality Labs is a civil rights group for Dalit, once known as untouchables. Its cause is a growing but complex one. As conversation waxes about the prospect of caste discrimination bans taking place in more states, questions are arising about the relevance and extent in America of a system with roots in Hindu scripture.

The bill is also sparking constitutional debate, not only about discrimination but about religious rights. Caste — a social hierarchy with roots found in an ancient Hindu text, the Rig Veda — persists in some areas of the world. The caste system is banned by India’s constitution, but a portion of Hindu Indian Americans still identify with a caste. 

California’s bill aims to expand the definition of ancestry — already protected by state laws — to include caste, defined as “an individual’s perceived position in a system of social stratification” based on “inherited status.” 

“If Governor Newsom signs the bill, this will provide protection for millions of Californians who are experiencing some form of caste discrimination,” communications director Alicia Lawrence, who works for the bill’s introducer in the state senate, Aisha Wahab, says. 

When Ms. Wahab was on the campaign trail and asked voters about their most pressing concerns, caste discrimination came up “fairly regularly,” she adds. 

Much of the debate over the bill has centered around First Amendment concerns, as advocates say it simply clarifies existing case law, ensuring there is no doubt about caste discrimination being illegal. 

Opponents of the bill agree that existing law protects against caste discrimination, but they fear adding “caste” language specifically targets Hindus, since the public associates caste with Hinduism, as the Sun has reported.

Equality Labs tells the Sun that caste discrimination is not “Hindu-specific” but rather that caste systems “exist globally.” Yet the group’s own frequently cited caste study mentions Hindus 53 times. Its cover page quotes an Indian statesman saying, “If Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, caste would become a world problem.” 

In addition to First Amendment concerns, controversy has arisen over the California Civil Rights Department, which would be the enforcer of the bill if Mr. Newsom signs it into law. 

In a case that has since been used as the prime example of caste discrimination in California, the state sued Cisco in 2020, claiming two engineers discriminated against a Dalit employee. The Civil Rights Department voluntarily dropped its case against the engineers but is still suing Cisco. 

One of the engineers who was accused of caste discrimination, Sundar Iyer, says he was labeled with a caste by California’s Civil Rights Department despite not being religious at all. 

He tells the Sun he offered “every top leadership position in my Cisco startup” to “another senior candidate, who also self-identified as Dalit,” and he gave away all of his equity as chief executive to his employees, including the one that accused him of caste discrimination. 

Mr. Iyer says that when Mr. Newsom and America “will come to know the truth” of what the California Civil Rights Division “did, what they hid, and what they continue to hide, it will truly result in this case being the landmark case that the caste activists want it to be.”

When asked by the Sun if the Civil Rights Department should be the enforcer of the caste bill, given ongoing questions about the department’s handling of the Cisco case, Ms. Wahab’s office representatives said enforcing anti-caste discrimination is within the agency’s purview. 

“Enforcement of our anti-discrimination laws is the mission of the Civil Rights Department,” the spokeswoman tells the Sun.