Two bills seeking to add race as a protected category under New York’s anti-discrimination laws failed to advance this legislative session. The bills, New York Senate Bill S.6531 and Assembly Bill A.6920, were first introduced in 2025, sparking a major debate over how these bills would disenfranchise Hindus, Indians or people of South Asian origin living in New York State. The Coalition of Hindus of North America campaigned against the passage of the bills and urged residents to appeal to their assembly member or senator to vote against these bills. He said race is not a neutral term and instead of making race a protected category, the Assembly and Senate should consider adding ancestry as a category to New York’s human rights law.The coalition was pleased when the bills failed to advance. “As a Bahujan Hindu, I have held several meetings with lawmakers in New York over the past two years to share my story and educate. I find it outrageous that New York State would try to weaponize my identity against my own culture and the traditions that provide me solace and strength,” said Sudha Jagannathan, the coalition’s director of government relations.The coalition cited a 2024 study from the Rutgers University Social Perception Lab and the Network Contagion Research Institute and said the study found that casual references and conversations on caste by people with institutional power also had serious consequences, with individuals being more likely to agree with Hitler-like statements against Hindus and Indian-Americans.Defenders of the proposed bills argued that existing laws lack caste protection and that victims may be reluctant to report discrimination in the absence of such explicit protections. The two bills were sponsored by State Senator James Sanders Jr. and Assemblyman Steven Raga to define caste as a system of social stratification based on inherited status, social rank, occupation, ancestry, and related characteristics.