Cisco Caste Case, Sundar Iyer, risks to Hindus within the US, discriminatory SB403 regulation and ‘John Doe’: False allegations fuelling Hinduphobia

On sixteenth July 2023, Sundar Iyer, the principle defendant within the Cisco Caste case, shared his expertise on the Caste Con’23 on the authorized battle that he fought due to a bogus case of caste discrimination filed in opposition to him and his colleague Ramana Kompella by an individual recognized as ‘John Doe’. The complainant claimed that Iyer and Kompella discriminated in opposition to Doe, a Dalit, at Cisco’s United Stated based mostly workplace.

At the start of his speech, Iyer mentioned the previous couple of years had been troublesome due to the litigation. Because of authorized functions, he learn from a pre-written script. Iyer, an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for over 20 years, has a number of startups below his sleeve. Most of those startups had been associated to the tech sector. On the job entrance, he works as the first supervisor at Cisco, the place he was sued over the claims of caste discrimination by the California Civil Rights Department, aka CRD.

Iyer identified that he wouldn’t be talking on the professionals and cons of SB403, the notorious anti-Hindu invoice tabled in California to focus on Indians dwelling within the United States. His main focus stays on the private expertise within the Cisco caste case.

Iyer’s ordeal of the Cisco caste case

The following part relies on his readout of the script at Caste Con’23.

Iyer grew up in India, and India gave him two important issues important for development: alternative and adversity. His caste privilege was that he took a mortgage of USD 40,000 (USD 75,000 on the present time) to review in America. CRD sued his colleague Ramana Kompella and him in June 2020.

It was claimed that Iyer and Kompella discriminated in opposition to and harassed CRD’s nameless shopper John Doe due to his case. John Doe was Iyer’s classmate in his faculty days in India. Iyer paid Doe a number of million {dollars} in compensation to affix his startup at Cisco Systems. He recruited him and different staff by sacrificing his Cisco Equity.

John Doe self-identifies as a Dalit which, based on CRD, ‘is the lowest caste in Hinduism and India’. CRD outlined caste as a strict Hindu social and non secular hierarchy. They submitted a number of articles, declarations, and guide chapters that equate caste with South Asia and Hinduism.

Coming to the allegations in opposition to him within the case, Iyer mentioned he was accused of the truth that he didn’t award John Doe the top of engineering place in his startup as a result of he was a Dalit. Interestingly, based on the Court paperwork Cisco submitted, it was clear that Doe by no means requested and even wished that place. Still, Iyer was accused of bigotry in opposition to Dalits.

Contrary to CRD’s claims, Iyer mentioned not solely did he rent Doe allegedly even when he knew his caste but in addition provided all the prime three management positions at his Cisco startup, together with the place of the top of engineering that Doe claimed discrimination in opposition to to a different Dalit, the identical lowest caste as Doe.

Iyer mentioned the individual provided the place was the most effective individual he might rent. Two of the positions provided to him had been made earlier than the case was filed in opposition to him. Still, CRD sued him and his colleague for Dalit discrimination. CRD additionally accused him of wage discrimination.

To put the matter in context, Iyer identified that he didn’t take any fairness within the startup and compensated Doe with a number of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Instead of contemplating his place, CRD accused him of wage discrimination as a result of he didn’t give Doe a number of further thousand {dollars} in a single wage increment cycle in October 2016.

CRD named him and his colleague Kompella within the press on the identical day they filed the lawsuit earlier than their Fair Day in courtroom. CRD collaborated with caste activists who wrote a number of articles tarnishing their reputations. Even right now, each proceed to obtain activist propaganda and unadulterated hate. Some of those activists even focused them for his or her final names, calling their earlier names and several other different Hindu final names violent casters.

Calling themselves the most effective and solely instance of America’s caste litigation, Iyer mentioned that regardless of giving prime management positions to a Dalit, he was accused of caste discrimination. Iyer mentioned throughout the trial, he offered CRD public information that confirmed he was not a practising spiritual individual. Yet, CRD claimed he adhered to Hindu spiritual practices. Iyer mentioned the CRD is meant to guard civil rights, however in his case, they intentionally violated his freedom of spiritual rights.

Despite being conscious that he doesn’t apply caste and even put on the scared risk, he was sued for caste discrimination. Iyer identified that he had written a number of brief tales in opposition to caste through the years. Still, CRD went forward and assigned him to a Hindu Brahmin caste. Iyer mentioned it was ironic that civil rights organisations intentionally assigned him a caste based mostly on his final identify alone.

While CRD claimed caste is a deeply non-public matter, they broadcasted his caste to the world. Next, they claimed that caste results in violence. Furthermore, they colluded with the activists who made a number of violent stereotypes of Brahmins in higher caste Indians. On report, Equality Labs, CRD’s essential activist collaborator, mentioned that Nazis in Germany and Europe are upper-caste Indians.

He added that thirtieth June 2020 could be remembered because the day California civil rights sued them as the primary occasion of state-sponsored casteism. The CRD investigated the Cisco case for a few years regardless of overwhelming proof on the contrary. After a mere 15-minute interview that he was given, they sued him for caste discrimination which was a violation of his due course of rights.

CRD didn’t cease there. They additionally sued Iyer for harassment, which is a critical crime. One has to name somebody the n-word a number of instances at a workplace to be sued for harassment. It just isn’t based mostly on enterprise actions however on private behaviour. In the eight years since Iyer employed Doe, CRD didn’t discover a single unhealthy assertion Iyer made in opposition to Doe.

Ramana was additionally sued for caste-based harassment. His most grievous crime was that he requested John Doe to file weekly standing reviews. His instructions to Doe got here from the White American supervisor whom Iyer described as an excellent man and a legend in Silicon Valley. “Isn’t that racist stereotyping accusing Ramana of harassment for simply following his manager’s request?” Iyer questioned.

CRD named and shamed them merely for doing their job. CRD didn’t cease there. They focused not solely Iyer and Ramana but in addition 50+ Cisco co-workers. His staff was ethnically vibrant and numerous, with women and men from varied races and ethnicities from all around the globe. CRD, alternatively, painted them as “entirely upper caste Indians”. They accused 50+ co-workers of Iyer with none due strategy of importing bigotry and caste system from India to America. CRD stripped them of their humanity and claimed a hostile Dalit setting however didn’t hassle to interview the senior one that was a Dalit himself in his group.

The one that had the topmost place in his group was erased of his Dalit identification because it didn’t match of their narrative. “We were not humans to them. We were just pawns in their racist narrative,” Iyer mentioned.

CRD, in affiliation with Equality Labs, then unleashed a flood of hate in opposition to all Hindu Americans. They repeatedly racially profiled and violently stereotyped Hindu Americans. They even accused them of raping and assaulting 25 per cent of all Dalits in America and not using a shred of proof. The choose rejected the insane focusing on of Hindu Americans. He additionally rejected every declare that was based mostly on the unscientific Equality Labs report that was introduced as anecdotal and never proof.

They made statements like ‘life is a living hell working under Indian managers’. They accused Indian Americans of spitting on Dalits merely due to information of their caste and accused upper-caste Indians of boasting their organic superiority on purely anecdotal information. CRD even claimed that the rise in casteism in America was because of the election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Interestingly, CRD suppressed PM Modi’s caste background. PM Modi belongs to OBC or Other Backward Class, for many who are unaware. Despite the very fact, PM Modi just isn’t an upper-caste Hindu, his election as Prime Minister was used as a purpose for so-called caste discrimination within the US.

In January 2021, Hindu American Foundation sued the CRD for violating the American Consitution Multiple Times. In September 2021, the deferral equal employment alternative fee (a federal physique) accused CRD of a number of ethics violations. In April 2022, Governor Newsom fired CRD’s lead prosecutor, who was additionally the lead prosecutor within the Cisco case. In October 2022, Castegate.org, a volunteer-led organisation, documented deeply disturbing and persevering with unethical actions within the Cisco case. In January 2023, Iyer and others filed a movement to Sanction the CRD prosecutors for bringing a case that had no authorized or factual foundation. After their movement, CRD withdrew the case in opposition to him and Ramana however continued to sue Cisco.

In April 2023, California Policy Center, a Southern California-based Think Tank, launched a damning white paper accusing the CRD of a sample of corrupt behaviour in opposition to a number of Californian firms, together with Tesla and Ride Games. In July 2023, California for Justice, a volunteer-driven engineer organisation, accused the CRD of focusing on Indian Americans and appealed to Governor Newsom to intervene urgently.

Iyer mentioned that over the previous years, he had given govt roles to individuals from British, Australian, Pakistani, Syrian American, Bangladeshi, Taiwanese, Indian ethnicities and, after all, fellow Americans as a result of they had been finest for the roles.

Ultimately, he metaphorically talked to Dr BR Ambedkar and mentioned, “Dear Dr Ambedkar, I hadn’t realised that I would have to talk to you. I am deeply sorry; at Cisco, I first gave my top leadership positions to a brilliant, hard-working, developed candidate. Why? Because he was the best person that I could hire. The CRD won’t tell the judge that the activists who claimed to speak for the Dalits in America won’t tell you that the scholars were supposed to uphold academic integrity. [They] will not tell you that, and the press will not report that it does not fit the narrative. But dear Dr Ambedkar, I thought you should know the truth that we’re not expected to prove our innocence in America. It is the job of the state to prove guilt. The CRD withdrew their case against Ramana and me with prejudice. In layman’s language, they agreed never to sue Ramana and me on this matter. However, earlier this year, our local Fremont Senator [Aisha] Wahab introduced SB-403 to prevent discrimination based on someone’s perceived caste. In her speech, she invoked the Cisco case and presumed my 50-plus co-workers guilty. Many of them are her own constituents. Like the CRD, she perceived us as an oppressed upper cause before our Fair Day in court. I thank you, Senator Wahab.”

Speaking to Dev Discourse, Iyer mentioned throughout Caste Con’23, “I gave away the entirety, that is, 100 per cent of my CEO equity in my Cisco startup to all of my employees, including to John Doe (the anonymous Dalit plaintiff). I hired and compensated Doe (my classmate), with several millions of dollars. Despite that, the CRD (Civil Rights Department) accused me (on behalf of Doe), of salary discrimination, for not giving Doe a raise of a few thousand dollars in October 2016.”

Who is John Doe?

The CRD had determined to maintain the accuser nameless (John Doe) until the case was over as a result of the accuser feared for his security. However, with the Cisco case in opposition to Iyer falling aside and the arbitration with Cisco additionally falling flat, OpIndia went by means of the paperwork collected and printed by castegate.org. In one of many CRD (beforehand DEFH) paperwork, a number of particulars helped us slim down the doable identification of the individual. By utilizing these paperwork and publically accessible data on skilled web sites like LinkedIn, IIT Bombay, ContactOut, CrunchBase, RocketReach and USPTO, we tried to ascertain the identification.

The first facet of the case we observed was that Iyer and John Doe went to IIT Bombay. John Doe additionally labored at Iyer’s startup in Cisco. Iyer’s startup at Cisco was referred to as Candid Systems. We observed a number of patents filed by Sunder Iyer in collaboration with different individuals from Cisco, in all probability from his startup.

Out of those names, we checked all names to see if any of them had been Indians. One identify that stood out was Chetan Narsude, a Principal Engineer at Cisco Narsude’s ContactOut profile, which urged he was co-founder of Candid, an Inseime Alpha firm. Insieme was the incubator of Iyer’s startup named Candid Systems. Patents filed by Cisco which have each Iyer’s and Narsude’s names will be seen right here, right here, right here and right here.

Source: ContactOut

According to Sunder Iyer’s LinkedIn and ContactOut profile, he attended IIT Bombay between 1994 and 1998.

Source: LinkedIn

Chetan Narsude’s RocketReach profile urged he additionally went to IIT Bombay between 1994 to 1998.

Source: RocketReach

As we established they attended IIT Bombay concurrently, we tried to ascertain a hyperlink between them on the faculty. During our analysis, we discovered a web page of BTech initiatives guided by retired professor Srikantam Sai Surya Prakasa Rao (SSSP Rao). On that web page, it was talked about that he guided initiatives of Sunday Iyer (Internet Security Management Protocols) and Chetan Narsude (Digital Signal Processor in Radar Signal Processing).

Source: IIT Bombay

OpIndia has written to each Iyer and Narsude for his or her feedback about their identification, position and the case falling flat. We haven’t obtained a response but. When and if we do obtain a response, we’ll replace this report with it.

The case in opposition to Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella

On tenth April 2023, CRD voluntarily dismissed its notorious ‘caste discrimination’ case in opposition to two Indian-origin Cisco Systems Inc. engineers within the Superior Court. The case was filed in opposition to Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella in June 2020 for supposedly discriminating in opposition to a ‘self-identifying Dalit’. CRD, an company of the California state authorities, had allegedly made false claims about Hinduism, moreover depicting individuals of Indian origin as ‘xenophobic.’

This was regardless of Iyer recruiting the alleged sufferer at a beneficiant package deal with thousands and thousands in inventory grants. The Indian-origin engineer had additionally employed not less than yet one more ‘self-identifying Dalit’ who held a management place at Cisco Sytems Inc.

Notably, California Civil Rights Department was properly conscious of the range within the firm and the actual Division the place Sundar Iyer labored. It additionally got here to gentle that the ‘self-identifying Dalit’ had been working within the American firm for 8 lengthy years on the time of submitting the grievance. CRD couldn’t discover any proof in opposition to the 2 Cisco Systems engineers that constituted harassment.

Anti-Hindu invoice SB403

SB403 is a so-called anti-caste discrimination laws that’s making its approach by means of the Californian state legislature. California Senator Aisha Wahab tabled the invoice. The doubtful organisation Equality Labs is among the invoice’s greatest supporters. The invoice was utterly based mostly on the Cisco caste case. Although the case fell flat, the SB403 invoice is on its strategy to turning into regulation in California state of the US.

Death of Hindu activist Milind Makwana

Milind Makwana, who belonged to a marginalised group, was a HSS sevak and APNADB co-founder. He was one of many vocal Hindus in opposition to SB403. On nineteenth July, he went to attend a Cupertino City Council assembly the place residents requested to move a decision in opposition to SB403. He was a humble, earnest and type human being who labored extensively for society. Unfortunately, quickly after the council assembly, Makwana collapsed and died at 11 PM Pacific time.

Just earlier than his loss of life, Makwana made a 1-minute eloquent speech in favour of a decision in opposition to SB403. He mentioned, “My identify is Milind I’m a Cupertino School district taxpayer. I’m from a marginalized group and I’m a proud Hindu. So whoever is claiming right here to signify us however ignoring Hindus is speaking about us with out us. So what I want to say is appears will be deceiving, identical to having a disco ball on a Monday morning. When you have a look at the proposed decision SB403 and peel off the shiny exterior, you can see a fancy dress get together of hidden racial discrimination and Hinduphobia for Asian Indians. I urge the town council to vote no on SB403 and dance our strategy to equity.“

Pandit Satish Okay Sharma, a British Hindu chief, who additionally attended Caste Con’23 because the keynote speaker, expressed his considerations over the continual assault on Hindus. He wrote a heartfelt notice on Twitter after studying concerning the loss of life of Makwana.

‘The degree of victimisation of Hindus, by these supporting this pointless invoice in any respect ranges has been introduced residence by this tragedy. Californias Hindus have been on the receiving finish of outright contempt, dehumanisation and direct oppression, below the guise of…

— Pt Satish Okay Sharma MBCS FRSA (@thebritishhindu) July 20, 2023

He wrote, “The degree of victimisation of Hindus, by these supporting this pointless invoice in any respect ranges has been introduced residence by this tragedy. California’s Hindus have been on the receiving finish of outright contempt, dehumanisation and direct oppression, below the guise of anti-discrimination laws.

Milind Makwana ought to have been at residence together with his younger household, not having to defend his Constitutional rights, not having to journey across the nation to guard his kids’s future, not having to show his innocence when those that hate Hindus have did not show any guilt.

I used to be invited to the valley as a Keynote speaker on the #CasteCon Conference, to offer historic proof of Caste as a colonial software, sculpted by an oppressive colonial occupier intent on denying Hindus freedoms and rights.

I’m devastated to witness the contempt with which Hindus have been handled in right now’s California, just because they’re Hindus and completely unjustifiably ‘perceived’ to be oppressors. It’s clear from the way and circumstances of the tragic passing of Milind Makwana, simply after delivering the next speech, a religious Hindu Dalit, as to who the oppressors are and who’s being oppressed. May Milind’s household be given the energy and help to navigate this time of trial. Aum Namaha Shivaya.“