The Anglo-Indian community in Hyderabad feels they are being denied opportunities to protect their identity and culture as stipulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1992.
After the World Anglo-Indian Day was observed on August 2, the Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations (FAIAI) and its constituent Anglo-Indian organisations on Sunday urged the government to address various issues they are facing and to declare Anglo-Indians a separate ‘Ethnic and Linguistic Minority’.
“We feel sad that the community is denied representation in Parliament and Legislatures. We hope the government will reverse this,” said Tyrron Whyte, an online literary magazine editor.
The World Anglo-Indian Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the official naming of the Anglo-Indian community which was approved by the British in the Government of India Act in 1935.
“The problems related to the Anglo-Indian community are complex. The study conducted by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2013 revealed several of the community’s problems. A detailed study with suggestions for remedial measures is to be found. As such, we request that the government consider constituting an Anglo-Indian Commission as stipulated in Article 338 (10),” Mr. Tyrron said.
Malcolm Wolfe, chairman of the New Anglo Community, said, “We are a peace-loving, hard-working community that constantly contributes to this nation; the only community that has the word ‘Indian’ in their name.”
He said the government’s approach toward Minorities is unfair. “The denial of representation to Anglo-Indians in Parliament and State Legislatures by the 126th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2019 was a glaring injustice,” he said, adding it was unfair that a community with a strength of over 4 lakh spread all over the country was counted as just 296 in number based on erroneous Census Data of 2011. “This must be looked into and the government has to restore the representation of Anglo-Indians in Parliament and state Legislatures,” Mr. Wolfe added.
The Federation demanded that Anglo-Indians be included in the list of Minorities under the National Commission of Minorities by amending the Act. They also requested that the report of a study conducted by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2013 on Anglo-Indians be uploaded on the ministry’s website for consideration of government agencies.
