(Asian Independent)- Ambedkar International Center (AIC) strongly condemns Google’s action of canceling a pre-approved , scheduled talk on Caste based discrimination by Thenmozhi Soundararajan of Equality Labs to its (Google’s) employees to mark Dalit History Month, which raises concern about Google’s behavior and its failure to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at workplace.
Sanjay Kumar, President of AIC, organization which is working to promote harmony and non-discrimination at workplaces in Corporate America, has said in a statement, It is ridiculous that a leading company in search engine and technology is letting their employees spread false narration that talking about “Discrimination on Caste Basis” is a Hindu phobic or anti-Hindu narrative, which is untrue. This led to the cancellation of the presentation by Thenmozhi. This episode is quite disappointing and discouraging for all who are working for equality.
Caste is a reality and discrimination still happening. Education on caste and caste-based discrimination shall add more inclusion and diversity to the workplace. If company like google is afraid of few employees of Indian diaspora opposing it by spreading false rumor, it is unfortunate. Google must act, verify the facts and take actions on moral ground without measuring its profit and loss.
It is very frustrating and painful that Tanuja Gupta, a senior manager at Google News who invited Thenmozhi Soundararajan to speak had to resign over this issue.
AIC appeals to Google management to step in immediately, apologize to Ms. Soundararajan and Ms. Tanuja Gupta, take action on employees who had spread false rumors, and most importantly to include Caste as protected category in discrimination policy.
– Sanjay Kumar
President, AIC
[email protected]
